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COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT. 



ODD ODES 
By Hugh Anthony Maker 



ODD ODES 



A SHORT VOLUME 
OF SHORT POEMS 



BY 
Hugh Anthony Makkr 



1906 






UBRARY of CONGRESS 
Two Copies Received i 

NOV 12 1906 ^ 

CLAS3 /( XXc,, No. 
COPY B./ ^ * 



Copyright 1901 and 1906 

BY 

Hugh Anthony Makhr 



T/id Irvin^ton Printshop 
Indianapolis 



To the Memory of 
My Late Lamented Father 

Sctb 1R. /IDahct, JEsq. 

This Book is lovingly inscribed 



PREFACE. 

V^j^/N the preparation of the following- volume, 
jSjIE^ it has been the aim of the Author to con- 
^^=^ struct pieces harmonizing- with the Philos- 
ophy that holds the Universe, when separated into 
its prime factors, to consist of Time, Space, Matter, 
and Motion; assuming- as axiomatic, 

That Time is infinite; 

Space is illimitable; 

Matter can not be annihilated; 

Motion can not be destroyed; 

That it is a natural law for matter to move 
throug-h space, without reference to time, accord- 
ing- to an impetus g-iven it by a certain motion un- 
til acted upon by a second motion, when it moves 
in accordance to the second motion, or the second 
motion modified by the first, or the first modified by 
the second, and so on throug-h a permutative series 
to Infinity. 

We further hold that the complement of the action 
of Motion upon Matter is chang-e. And in accord- 
ance with the law we have laid down, thoug-h each 
succeeding- change is similar in general, it differs 
in particulars. This differing in particulars is Evo- 
lution; and through the process of Evolution, Mat- 
ter resolves itself into those phenomena that give 
such exquisite charm unto Nature. 

We would further impress our readers with the 
idea that in the world of material things there is 

7 



PREFACE 

nothing- supernatural; that that which appears to 
be supernatural is but the result of natural laws we 
do not understand. 

Also: That the laws of nature are the laws of 
God; that if there be a personal deity at the head 
of the Universe, He does not speak Hebrew, Greek, 
or Arabic, more fluently than Kng-lish; and further, 
if He has g-iven any laws unto mankind, that He 
did not impart them to Moses on Mount Nebo, nor 
to Mohammed in a cave, nor to Joseph Smith on 
tablets of g"old, but instead has manifested them in 
the various principles incarnate in Nature; has 
written them indelibly upon the geolog-ical strata; 
has demonstrated their accuracy in the movements 
of the stars. 

V^e believe that science is yet in its infancy, and 
that the man who wishes to study the true word of 
God will find more of it in the scientific investiga- 
tion of Nature than in all the pages of the Holy 
Writ. 

Like Epicurus, we cleave to the tenet that "Pleas- 
ure is the chief end of man." When we say "pleas- 
ure," we do not mean licentiousness that deg-rades 
the mental, moral, and physical man; but such in- 
nocent amusements as tend to elevate and improve 
the man of this generation and leave a wholesome 
impression on the child of the next. 

We believe, like Thomas Jefferson, that "All men 
are born free and equal." For prince and peasant 
alike come naked into the world, and, like the great 

8 



PRKFACK 

Saladin, carry nothing- with them to the g-rave save 
their winding- sheets. Being- equal in birth, and 
of commensurate proportions in death, we believe 
— and fain would lead others to the same conclu- 
sion — that the hig-hest attainment of human prog-- 
ress is the procuring- and perpetuation of the in- 
alienable rig-hts of all men, namely, "Life, liberty, 
and pursuit of happiness." And for a man to be 
able to assist in driving- human prog-ress toward 
such a goal, we believe it is incumbent upon every 
citizen to g-ather unto himself as much useful knowl- 
edg-e as his circumstances will permit of, and then 
use his best efforts to eliminate dog-matism from the 
church, untruthfulness from the press, and dema- 
g-og-y from the state. 

More, we would like to leave the impression that 
the United States of America is the g-randest 
nation on the face of the earth; that it is but 
the culmination of centuries of search for liberty; 
that to make it the greatest nation that has ever ex- 
isted, — the mightiest nation that will ever exist, — 
we have but to carry out the spirit of its founders, 
by scratching from the statutes each law that sanc- 
tions, and curb in every way we can, each tendency 
to revert to monarchy, and, on the other hand, 
strengthen every tendency toward democracy, and 
keep honest men in office. 

Edgar Allen Poe, in his essay on "The Poetic 
Principle," asserts, and maintains with good logic 
(and we hold with him), that a long poem does not 

9 



PREFACE 

exist; that that which we concede to be a long- poem 
is but a succession of shorter ones. Therefore 
most of the pieces in this volume are short, and in 
a few instances consist of two or more articles on 
the same subject coupled tog-ether. 

Furthermore, all poetry of hig-h order contains 
more substance than is actually expressed in its 
stanzas, and every true poem conveys some sort of 
a moral to the mind of the reader. Thus it has 
been our aim that such pieces as would not allow 
their peruser to read between the lines, or convey 
to his mind some sort of a moral, be excluded from 
this volume. In conclusion, if this book should 
cause one person to realize that existence is some- 
thing- grave, and life a sad reality, of short dura- 
tion, not to be frittered away; should it cause him 
to think oftener, or reason more, or love better the 
inalienable rig-hts of all men, it will be deemed a 
success by its author. H. A. M. 

Carmel, Indiana, U. S. A., 
January ist, igoo. 



10 



ADDITIONAL PREFACE. 

A FTER a lapse of nearly seven years, we find 
Jr\. there is but little of the foreg-oing- preface we 
desire to chang-e. We have, however, decided to 
arrang-e the work in sections, and to add some poems 
we previously intended to omit. The sections are 
arrang-ed as nearly as possible so as to g^roup pieces 
of a kindred nature tog-ether. Althoug-h some of 
the sections are like the "infernal scoundrel and the 
honest man — so much alike we scarce can tell the 
two apart," we believe it is due to a preponderating- 
tendency to philosophy, which to a gTeater or less 
deg-ree pervades almost every piece. 

Beg-g-ing- pardon of the literary public for our 
seeming-ly unnecessary delay, we remain its most 
humble and obedient servant, H. A. M. 

October i^ igo6. 



11 



INDEX 

IviTERARY Section — 

The Mercenary Bard 21 

The Road to Fame 22 

The Defense of • 'The Raven" 25 

Poetical Suggestions 26 

The Rhymers' Trade 28 

Philosophical Section — 

Why Should We Laugh at the Follies of Men 33 

An Essay on Immortality 34 

Turn Not a Word with a Man That Is Mad. 36 

True Greatness 38 

The Pleasing Happy Mean 40 

The Field 42 

Educational Section — 

The Teacher 49 

The Ode to Genius 51 

The Commencement 52 

Ivove on the Brain 53 

The Place at the Top 54 

Political Section — 

Democracy 59 

On the Destruction of the Boer Republics. . . 61 
On Changing the Constitution in Regard to 

Religion 63 

On the Spanish-American War. 66 

The Inaugural Address of 1901 69 

13 



INDEX 

Two CampaigTi Songs of 1900 — 

(a) Silver and Bryan 71 

(b) The President's War 74 

Primary Times in Hamilton County 76 

Money and Brains 77 

Personal Section — 

Introduction of W. W. Pfrimmer 81 

Viola and Christina 82 

Mary 83 

Epistle to Mary 84 

' 'Gracie Divine" 86 

''Ivillie Banker" 87 

The Handsome First Lady of Gray 88 

Transition — A Cong-ratulation 89 

The Apolog-y 90 

To a Bachelor Friend 92 

To Bert B. Ellis 93 

To My Father 95 

Back at Winona 97 

If Man But Knew What Nature Knows. .... 99 

"Of the Making- of Books There Is No End" 101 

Sonnet to a Critic 104 

On a Young Man Choosing a Profession .... 105 

Speculative Section — 

The Grave 109 

On the Location of Heaven Ill 

On the Form of the Spirit 113 

Religious Section — 

Upon Forgiveness 119 

A Sermon 120 

14 



INDEX 

Hymn 121 

The Paramount Thought 123 

On the Power of the Infinite 125 

The Deacon's Desire 127 

Sundry Sonnets to Pope Leo XIII — 

I 131 

II 132 

III 133 

IV , 134 

V 135 

VI 136 

Sparkological Section — 

Dedication 141 

Don't Forget the Giver. 143 

Unhampered, Unloved, and Alone 144 

The One that Loves You the Best of All. . . . 145 

When 146 

The Lady I Am Looking For 148 

To the One that I Love 149 

Fain Would I Be with the Lady I Love 150 

The Dream 151 

The Closet Just Under the Stair 153 

Sonnet 155 

Enigmatic Section — 

Dedication 159 

Preface 160 

Explanation 160 

Every Lover Hath a Loved One 161 

My Lady 162 

Mystery 163 

Enigma 164 

IS 



INDEX 

Spenserian Stanza 165 

A May-Day Oifering- 166 

Double Handicap 167 

"Kind Hearts Are More than Coronets". . . . 168 

Sonnet 169 

Nature's Shine, in Gleam So Fine 170 

Sonnet 171 

MiscELi^ANEous Section — 

As Down throug-h I/ife's Dreary Desert I Wind 175 

The Present 176 

My Trinity 178 

The Bachelor's Lament 179 

The Benedict's Paean 180 

On the Fall of Man 181 

An Episode 182 

"Hell" and "Hades" 183 

Little Willie 184 

The "Governor's" Advice to His Son 185 

Conceit in Youth 186 

An Application for a Job 187 

Distance 188 

My Refuge 190 

A Retort 192 

The Unchallenged Story 194 

The Appointed Time To Die 196 

Early Memories 198 

Strolling- at Midnig-ht 200 

Sonnet to White River 202 

Sonnet to Spring ... 203 

Parody of the Translation of the First Eight 
Lines of "The Dying Child," by Hans 

Christian Andersen 204 

Finis 205 

16 



Literary Section 



To the Memory of the Late 

Bernard) (BolDsmttb 

The Patron of My Youth 

To whom I am. indebted for much classical 

knowledge and more general 

literary information 



Index to IvITBrary Section — 

The Mercenary Bard 

The Road to Fame 

The Defense of "The Raven' 

Poetical Sug-g-estions 

The Rhymers' Trade 



20 



THE MERCENARY BARD 

The hand that wields a hireling- pen 
Can but commit a sort of crime, 

To put disg-ust in minds of men 
For noblest thoug-hts in rhyme. 

To prove the truth that I aver 

I need but use the simplest modes, 

And ask the reader to refer 

Unto the "Laureate's" birthday odes. 

When for a price my verse is wroug-ht, 
'Tis void of everything- sublime, 

For Rhyme forsakes my every Thoug-ht, 
And Thoug-ht forsakes my Rhyme. 

When imprints are by impulse broug-ht, 
My being- seems a perfect chime; 

Rhyme exists in every Thoug-ht, 
And Thoug-ht in every Rhyme. 

June, 1893 



21 



THE ROAD TO FAME 

The road to Fame is a dang-erous road, 
With many a crook and turning*; — 

Those that travel it bear a load 
Of longing-, hope, and yearning. 

Few are the youths that ever dream 

Of the task they are beginning-. 
So dazed are they by the worthless gleam 

Of the prize they hope of winning. 

He who threads its early shades, 

Shall know ere he's o'ercome it. 
That it leads o'er a series of terraced grades 

Toward a snow-capped, sunlit summit. 

Each weary traveler shall also learn, 

Ere he is Fame's adorner. 
That chasms yawn at every turn, — 

A gulch rounds every corner. 

He shall find it consists of "ups and downs," 

Yet ever upward tending, — 
That each alternate prospect smiles or frowns, 

From its start, unto its ending. 

22 



THE ROAD TO FAME 

He shall also see its path divide 
At each turn, each hill and hollow, 

And find no fing-er-board or g-uide. 
To tell which prong to follow. 

He in this easy sort of way 
May from the right road sever; 

By it be led so far astray 
He's lost to Fame forever. 

He shall ever find this road patrolled, 
By one that is "strictly in it," 

Whose position is such he can lay hold 
Of his victim any minute. 

Why! He is present at the birth. 

And faithfully attending. 
Escorts him through his days of earth. 

And claims him at their ending. 

"Death," is the uncased nom de plume 

Of this effete bravado. 
That blights his prospects ere they bloom 

Or kills him in the shadow. 

When he has passed the dangers all, 

His goal is an object real; 
He finds his reward to be amply small 

Compared with his ideal. 

23 



THE KOAD TO FAME 

He shall find the object for which he strove, 

A sort of an empty bubble; 
lyike the search for many a treasure trove, 

Was v^orth not half the trouble 

I would not chang-e from men to mice, 
Those whom I might call brothers, 

Yet I would tender good advice, 
To "would-be" bards and others. 



24 



THE DEFENSE OF "THE RAVEN" 

There is a class of demons 
Who insist it was the "tremens," 
Burning- their existence into a being-'s core; — 
That their g-hastly spectres strolling- 
Past a g-iant mind's controlling-, 
Were the very means of tolling- 
The knell of "Nevermore;" — 
The quaint, immortal dirg-e of "Never — Never- 
more." 

Never was a dart more heinous. 
Aimed at the heart of g-enius; — 

Never did true inspiration receive severer blow; — 
'Twas but the quaint revealing- 
Of those strang-e outbursts of feeling- 
That come o'er the senses stealing-, 
That the Gifted only know; — 

That the truly, purely Gifted e'er can know. 

And, in truth, the mig^hty sequel 
Is, "The Raven" has no equal, 
In our lang-uage of the present, or our literature of 
yore; 
And the future will be tacit 
As to poems that outclass it, — 
They may equal, — not surpass it, — 
As in days that passed before; — 
It shall be to rhyme a model in our tong-ue "For- 



25 



&» 



POETICAL SUGGESTIONS 

Man has never written poem, 
Pro or con on any question, — 

Ballad, rondeau, sonnet, proem, — 
Without the aid of some suggestion. 

Thus we have the corollary. 

Demonstrating beyond question, 

Something, though but ordinary. 
Always gives him the suggestion. 

Scenes from his father's humble dwelling 
Father, mother, son and daughter, — 

Suggested all that Burns is telling, 
In his story of the "Cotter." 

Byron gazing upon Harrow, 

From the scene drew inspiration 

Of which many fain would borrow. 
In poetic contemplation. 

As Woodworth read the lines of Byron, 
A poetic dream passed o'er him; — 

The oaken bucket bound in iron. 

And its surroundings rose before him, 

Set his poetic lyre to twanging, — 
With such mastery he struck it, 

A Woodworth's fame to-day is hanging 
On the bail of that old bucket. 

26 



POETICAI. SUGGESTIONS 

A rural home by clear Hockhocking-, — 
Not some deep unfathomed riddle, 

Nor occurrence strang-e or shocking-, — 
Sug-g-ested "Cabin Home" to Biddle. 

Our theme becomes not less endearing-, 

Nor the illustration darker. 
To read the "Cabin in the Clearing," 

By our old friend, Ben S. Parker. 

'Twas not sugg-ested by some hobby. 
Or something most extraordinary. 

But by the death of "Little Robbie," 
And the sainted life of "Mary." 

Thus we say, — and with consistence, — 

It is a theory fully tested, 
Every poem in existence. 

Has by something been suggested. 

November 2j, 190J, 



27 



THE RHYMERS' TRADE 

The Rhymers' trade is the making- of g-ems, 

The coining- of aphorisms. 
The proper placing- of apotheg-n 

And arrang-ing- of sjllog-isms. 



rms, 



The cleverly weaving- into song-, 

Of choicest bits of story; — 
The expressing- in rhythmic metre strong- 

The pith of allegory. 

The setting well of priceless truth 

In figures of matchless metre, 
That it may appeal the more to youth, 

And adults may think it sweeter. 

The retaining of that which the bard deems fit 
Of the hateful stuif called rumor; — 

The preserving of brilliant flashes of wit. 
And the infinite jests of humor. 

The blending in sweet, harmonious rhyme. 

Of fact and strange delusion; — 
Of quaint, ridiculous, queer, sublime, 

In elaborate profusion. 

With zeal like an ardent votary true, — 

To his art in true oblation, 
All this and more doth the Rhymer do, 

As he plys his queer vocation. 
28 



Philosophical Section 



This Section is respectfully dedicated 
to my esteemed Friend 

%. S. JBpers, /ID. H). 

As a. token of the high personal regard 
in which he is held by me 



Index to Philosophical Section — 

Why Should We Laugh at the Follies of Men? 

An Essay on Immortality 

Turn Not a Word with a Man That Is Mad 

True Greatness 

The Pleasing- Happy Mean 

The Field 



32 



WHY SHOULD WK LAUGH AT THE 
FOLLIES OF MEN ? 

Why should we laug'h at the follies of men, 
Or smile at some slig-ht eccentricity shown? 

For does it never occur to us then, 

Some similar freak may be one of our own. 

Surely that man bears a load of conceit, 

Who imagines himself of such accurate ways, 

As to make his exterior appear so complete, 
As to look as perfection in every one's g-aze. 

He who flatters himself that "I am exempt 

From the foibles that freig-ht all the rest of man- 
kind," 

Is an object as fit for fullest contempt, 
As ever omnipotent nature designed. 

In fact, I think that I need not repeat. 

Could each view himself with some other man's 
eyes. 
Many would part with a load of conceit, — 

Many faces assume quite a look of surprise. 

For we truly believe that the horrible sig-ht, 
Of miserable g"host, or of mischievous elf. 

Could produce in most men not half so much frig-ht, 
As one good wholesome view of himself. 



33 



AN ESSAY ON IMMORTALITY 

No one of mean or royal birth, 

Whate'er his race or name may be, 

But hath eternal days on earth, — 
An earthly immortality. 

At death each of our several lives 

Does not v^holly cease to be, 
But in a manner still survives 

In deeds or in posterity. 

The children's birth, — the parents' loss,- 

Are as metal when refined; 
A process that casts off the dross, 

And leaves the metal pure behind. 

Kach and every one of us, 

Despite humility or pride. 
Is but a sort of omnibus. 

Where our prog-enerators ride. 

We call it death, — the parent dies. 
Is seen no more in haunts of men. 

Yet from his children's sparkling eyes. 
He's mirrored to the world again. 

We see the dullness, or the fire. 
In every deed and action done, 

That was extant within the sire, 
Reincarnate in the son. 

34 



AN KSSAY ON IMMORTALITY 

We see each lineament of grace, 

That in the mother's form was seen, 

Reflected from the daug-hter's face, 
Or silhouetted in her mein 

It seemeth strang-e, — but yet 'tis true, 
The time shall come when we shall be, 

Known in this world by X-ray view, 
Caug-ht up from our posterity. 

Let's make our several conducts thus. 
That then there shall no trace be seen 

In those whose lineag-e runs to us. 
Of inebriate or libertine. 

With scruples let us fill the place 
Designed by nature's stern degree; 

As wardens of the human race, — 
The guardians of posterity. 



35 



TURN NOT A WORD WITH A MAN THAT 
IS MAD 

Turn not a word with a man that is mad, — 
'Tis not a falsehood that I wish to disclose, 

But truth, simple truth (the most pure to be had) — 
For his reason hath fled when his choler arose. 

Woman is but the twin sister of man, 

With passions the same; I would have you infer, 
When she is ang-ered, — just doubt if you can, — 

Reason is ^vholly unknown to her. 

Think not I've at hasty conclusions arrived, 
Or that the premise my lof^ic refutes, — 

But the woman or man of reason deprived 
Is on an identical plane with the brutes. 

When God made the mind of which man is so 
proud, — 
That power by which he such mastery wields, — 
It was then that mankind was with reason endowed. 
To disting-uish the race from the beasts of the 
fields. 

36 



TURN NOT A WORD WITH A MAN THAT IS MAD 

If the person that's ang-ered is prone to reflect, 
Leave him alone in his wrath for a while, 

For an humble apology one can expect 

When reflection in time sets him free from his 
g-uile. 

If he nurses his v,^rath as the seasons retreat, 
Till passion's dark cloud all his virtues bedim. 

Let him g-o ! — As one "Wise in his conceit. 
There's more hope of a fool than of him." 



37 



TRUE GREATNESS 

We learn this much from out the classic lore, 
That seven cities claimed the Homer dead; — 

In those same cities (in rag's from door to door), 
The living- Homer sang* and beg-g-ed his bread. 

So long- as voices shall be lifted up to sing-, — 

So long- as harps, and lutes, and lyres are strung-, — 

So long- the labyrinth of time shall ring-, 

With strains that the immortal Homer sung-. 

Once there did exist a man named Poe, 
Who lived in penury and died in want; — 

Throug-hout the years that are to come and g-o, 
His name and works will ever be extant. 

In life unrecog-nized his actual worth, 

An unappreciating- public did his work ig-nore; 

Yet, along-side of the truly g-reat of earth. 

His name is shining- now and will "Forevermore." 

Ag-ain, there lived in Judea's land a man 

Whose g-reatest trait was not the g-ift of song-; 

But worked His way upon a broader, nobler plan, 
And lost His life contending- with the wrong-. 

38 



TRUE GREATNESS 

Thoug-h the populace His every truth denied — 
Did Him revile — His very being- sought — 

Thoug-h Him they stripped, and scourged, and cru- 
cified, 
They did not crucify the truths He taught. 

'Tis not within the scope of any one to say, 

When the works of Christ shall wholly cease to 
be; 

Just how and when His words shall pass away. 
His splendid aphorisms lose their potency 

Time is the test true greatness must endure, 
Kre it can show an uncontested claim, 

Dispel the cloud that makes its title insecure, 
Establish rights to everlasting fame. 

True greatness stands the trying test of time; 

For it is a gem possessed of such a ray. 
The flood of years quench not its gleam sublime, 

But brighter wears "as ages roll away." 



39 



THE PLEASING HAPPY MEAN 

Half-way between the zenith and the nadir lies 
The Earth, the best place known for man to dwell; 

And of all the Worlds that roam about the skies, 
If there a better is, no one has deig-ned to tell. 

The best of hours that fill duration's sphere, 
'Twixt the beg-inning- and the end of time. 

Is the potent Now, — the moment that is here, — 
The present, with its gTacious g-ifts sublime. 

'Twixt summer's heat and winter's bitter cold, 
When spring- flowers come, or autumn fruits are 
here. 

Exist the days the poets have extolled. 

The sweetest, best, and brigfhtest of the j^ear. 

'Tween silly youth and sad, decrepit ag-e, 

Lies what is known as manhood's sturdy prime, 

'Tis then we may in enterprise eng-ag-e. 

To fix our "Footprints on the sands of time." 

The best point known upon the social plane, — 
The one in which the person is the nearest free, 

Is where virtue, temperance, honesty, in jointure 
reig-n, 
UnvSoiled by wealth, — unstained by poverty. 

40 



THE PLEASING HAPPY MEAN 

The happiest nation upon this Karth to-daj, 
Is that state unknown, that so conducts affairs, 

Its rulers with unquestioned truth can say, 

"We have no poor — we boast no millionaires." 

The religious state appealing- most to sense. 
Is that between the infidel and zealot schools. 

That gives to its possessors a proper reverence. 
Keeps from atheism, nor makes them bigot fools. 

Nature's thinking student can only but arrive, 
At one conclusion in his philosophic dream; — 

That nature ever seems to struggle and to strive 
For equilibrium, — not for vain extreme. 

To him it will be more than clearly seen, 

That every several subject teems 
With something like a pleasing happy mean. 

That lies half-way betwixt its two extremes. 



41 



THE FIELD 

All boastful knowledg-e hath revealed, 
All subtle science hath unsealed, 
Or invention made the ages yield. 
Are but the products of one field. 

All aesthetic art hath shown. 

Or sculpture wrought in bronze or stone, 

To illustrate the great unknown. 

Are fruits of this same field alone. 

Oratory's rhythmic flow, 
Poetry's ecstatic glow, 
Music's accents, — sweet and low, — 
Like down from off its surface blow. 

The mental things that daily feed 
Us with desires that ever plead 
For nobler thought or better deed. 
From this field spring like vernal weed. 

Inceptions of things great or base 
That lead to honor or disgrace, — 
To mountains climb or rainbows chase,— 
Originate in this same place. 

42 



THE FIELD 

Too, mig-ht it well be understood, 
That all those votive deeds of g-ood 
That mark true man or womanhood, 
Are mast of this field's choicest wood. 

Perhaps your minds with fancies fraught, 
Are into expectation wroug^ht. 
Wondering- this field's name, — if aug-ht; — 
We answer 'tis the Field of Thought. 

Why ! Such of eruditions minions 
As would soar on learning's pinions, 
In the "Monarch thought's dominions," 
Seek the "stuff" for their opinions. 

Such as forge out His'try's link. 
Biding nations rise or sink, — 
Who wonders work "in blood or ink," — 
In every case are those who think. 

This field is not what one would call, 
A narrow, stinted area small, 
Encompassed round by mighty wall; — 
'Tis open, free, with room for all. 

Yet it was not always free. 
For when we pry in history, 
'Round it lucid minds can see 
Palisades of bigotry. 

43 



THE FIELD 

Sordid days of mental greed, 

When big-ot potentates decreed, 

That every thoug-ht, and word, and deed, 

Must be in harmony with creed. 

When thoug^hts that mig-ht an ag-e illume 
Were forced to meet a common doom; — 
For authorit}^ decreed the v/omb 
In which they g-rew should be their tomb. 

Ah! Wicked cruel days were they, 
When men did think but dared not say; — 
Let's hojje and trust that big-ot's sway 
Has forever passed away. 

Kach of us should try to learn 
The truth, for which we all should yearn, 
And g-ive ourselves the most concern. 
That such reg-ime does not return. 

And hail this ag-e's precious dower, 
That the boastful big-ot's power 
Has fallen from its ancient bower, 
And thoug-ht grows freer every hour. 

With all the ancient barriers down 
(No matter who may smile or frown), 
From President to vulg-ar clown, 
May in its precincts seek renown. 
44 



THE FIKLD 

For free thoug-ht is not now a crime, 
And any one, at any time. 
Can dress a thoug-ht, g-rand or sublime, 
In oratory, prose, or rhyme. 

Each one now, with justest pride, 
May any chosen hobby ride 
Into thoug-ht's arena wide, — 
There view a truth from any side. 

Thoug-h people may be lame or blind. 
Deaf, untaug-ht, or unrefined. 
Can cultivate,— if so inclined, — 
The royal g-races of the mind. 

Thoug-h bacchanals may toast and drink, 
And punning- wag-s may nod and blink, 
And purse-proud people show their "chink," 
Success accrues to those who think. 

Then let it be rig-ht here revealed. 
That those who g-reatest influence wield, 
Are those whose wits and nerves are steeled 
To hig-hest culture of the field. 

So while we cling- to being-'s link, 
Each one of us should try to drink 
In all the truth expressed in ink, — 
And most of all, — profoundly think. 

45 



Educational Section 



Index to Educational Section — 

The Teacher 
The Ode to Genius 
The Commencement 
Love on the Brain 
The Place at the Top 



48 



THE TEACHER 

The greatest teacher that ever has taug-ht 

The most valuable lessons to youth, 
That the brightest and best illustrations have 
wrought, 

Of the infinite value of truth — 

Was it a prophet, with prophecies grand, 

On which gTeat religions to found? 
Or warrior w^ith myriad hosts at command, 

Some king to strike to the ground? 

Was it a poet with volume immense, 
Who could all the language command, 

Who for rhythm or sound could sacrifice sense. 
By merely a turn of the hand? 

Was it a professor for knowledge renowned. 

With an LL.D. to his name. 
Who had earnestly sought, and the pathway had 
found. 

To the sphere of legitimate fame?. . . . 

Those making the deepest impressions on thought, 

Who gave unto science a plan. 
From their infancy up, have ever been taught 

By a different genius than man. 

49 



THE TKACHKK 

Those folks who display intellectual force, — 

Whom we g-iants of intellect call, 
Draw all of their learning- from one common source, 

That in truth is not human at all 

Natural phenomena "uttereth speech," 

That telleth Dame Nature to be 
The greatest of teachers that ever did teach 

Truth from fallacies free. 

If we carefully take into strictest account, 

All the phases of physical things. 
Nature looms up as the wounderful fount, — 

The source from which all knowledg-e springs. 



50 



THE ODE TO GENIUS 

Does not my g-ifted Lady know 

'Tis more the pupil than the school? — 

That learning's but a tinsel show, 
When grafted on a fool? 

We meet with those whose learnings fit 
Them with a Newton's mind to vie, — 

Like Tycho Brahe, lack the wit 
That learning to apply. 

Nature doth impart a strain, 

No teacher can supply, 
Incessant toil can not attain. 

And wealth can never buy. 

The gift of genius stands for more 
Than highest college's degree. 

Of "Master," "Fellow," "Bachelor," 
Or "Doctor of Philosophy," 

Our verse may something recommend, 
In which we can not both concur, — 

Yet genius privileges extend 
That no diploma can confer. 

51 



THE COMMENCEMENT 

If gift of prose or poetry were mine, 

I would subject your patience to invasion; 

And forg-e some classic phrase or metred line 
To fitly celebrate this grand occasion. 

For this is the all-eventful eve, — 

The eve of graduation, — 
When of the class you take your leave. 

And seek some other station. 

School days are gone, ne'er to return, — 
They're part of memory's treasure; 

But in the future thou wilt learn 
To think of them with pleasure. 

May not this happy event prove 
The capstone of your education. 

But merely as a sort of groove 
Mark the top of its foundation. 

May the knowledge thou hast acquired, 

Prove no fleeting chattle; — 
By it may you be much inspired. 

As with life's trials you battle. 
52 



LOVE ON THE BRAIN 

You will kindly excuse me for the thoug"ht that 
imbues me, 

Aad allow me a chance to explain; — 
If you seek the hig-h station of a g-ood education. 

You must not get love on the brain. 

So be not offended by truths here extended, — 

To school a young- lady is vain, 
Be she ever so clever, it is fruitless endeavor 

When once she g-ets "boy on the brain." 

The law has no scruples when applied to male pu- 
pils, 
For all of its merits obtain; 
In school or in colleg^e, they can not g-ain knowl- 
edge, 
When once they get "girl on the brain." 

Remember, dear teachers, you are frail human 
creatures, — 

(All we tell you is but for your gain) — 
You will get along better to spurn Cupid's fetter, 

And never "get love on the brain." 

It would be a good feature for pupil and teacher 

A discipline strict to maintain. 
By carefully turning their minds all to learning. 

And "cutting out" "love on the brain." 
53 



THE PLACE AT THE TOP 

Though the tasks of this life be many or few, 
We should try each task to do well; 

Whatever may fall in our pathway to do, 
In that we should strive to excel. 

Those who earnestly try to excel in their line, 
Who their more careless fellows surpass, 

Are measuring up to the worthy design. 
That marks them as head of their class. 

He who masters a trade, a profession, or art,— 
Plys his calling sufficiently good, 

Is filling the place, — is playing the part 
That nature intended he should. 

They who ably attend their domestic affairs,— 

Be it farm, or office, or shop, — 
Will always be able to find room upstairs. 

An honorable place at the top. 

August 2^ igoi. 



54 



Political Section 



Index to Political Section — 

Democracy 

On the Destruction of the Boer Republics 

On Chang-ing- the Constitution in Regard to 
Religion 

On the Spanish-American War 

Inaug^ural Address of 1901 

Two Campaig-n Songs of 1900 

(a) Silver and Bryan 

(b) The President's War 
Primary Times in Hamilton County 
Money and Brains 



58 



DEMOCRACY 

Incarnate in nature, a principle lies, 
That the actions of ages have tested; 

Its voice has bidden free nations to rise 
As philosophy's teaching's sug-g-ested. 

To the children of men it has served as a lig"ht,- 

As a beacon intended to lead 'em 
From the primeval g-loom of monarchy's nig-ht 

To the broad, open hig-hway of freedom. 

In words was that principle clearly defined, 

To men and all his descendents, 
When Jefferson drew from his masterly mind 

The scroll that declared independence. 

Its epitome shines in the one phrase alone, 
"That all men are born free and equal;"— 

For a century past has that apotheg-m shone, 
And all the world knows the sequel. 

With valor did Jackson that doctrine defend. 

With vig-or did Lincoln apply it; 
And Bryan has shown that he is its friend. 

And only a fool would deny it. 

59 



DEMOCRACY 



In vain have the monarchs of centuries past 

Tried to surpass one another 
In spying- out means sufficiently vast 

Its spirit forever to smother. 

When tyranny laj^eth her vig-ilance by, 

Its spark into brilliancy flashes; 
As oft as oppression may cause it to die, 

It will Phoenix-like rise from its ashes. 

Thoug-h the powers that oppose it may outnumber 
Hell, 

And all of its reg-ions infernal. 
They are not enoug-h its powers to dispel, — 

'Tis a principle, fixed and eternal. 

Throug-h history's pag-es we easy can trace 

The case to successful solution, — 
That Democracy formeth the chemical base, 

Of our Nation's most blest Constitution. 



Nor does it conclude, a person must rise 

To a plane as hig-h as a steeple. 
Before he can see that sovereig^nty lies. 

Not in king-s, — but the will of the people. 

So long- as Democracy is kept alive, 
And the people its principles cherish, 

So long- shall the blessings of Freedom survive. 
And Liberty never shall perish. 

60 



ON THE DESTRUCTION OF THE BOER 
REPUBLICS 

Though the armies of Britain have swept the 

Transvaal, 
Have driven to exile the gallant "Oom Paul," 
Have ruthlessly seized with vicious design 
The picturesque realm of President Steyn; — 

Though the triumph of Britain is full and complete. 
It does not obliterate Buller's defeat; 
Nor does it disprove that England has sold 
Ages of prestige for diamonds and gold. 

Considering the life and the treasure it cost 

To win as she has, Great Britain has lost; 

For "The Empire" has shown, while smiting the 

Boer, 
A weakness her enemies knew not before. 

By pursuing a policy utterly mean, 
England has shortened the life of her Queen; 
Besides, she has fixed an indelible stain 
On the unwonted close of a glorious reign. 

61 



ON THE DESTRUCTION OF THE BOER REPUBLICS 

As time speeds along^, it can never be said 

That Liberty's spirit forever is dead; 

Thoug-h Kings may look sullen and Emperors 

frown, 
L/ike the famed g-host of Banquo, it never vvdll 

down. 

"You may break, you may shatter, the vase if you 

will. 
But the scent of the roses will cling- round it still;" 
Thus while the Transvaal has "kopje" or dell. 
So long- in that land that spirit shall dwell. 

Nor does it result from the recent melee 
That in British success mankind is more free; 
Nor does that success throw open the door 
To one sing-le home for well-to-do poor. 

No! Instead, it merely unfurls 
Opportunities g*rand for lords, dukes and earls; 
Will furnish a place for each leech of the crown. 
To go seek the baubles of wealth and renown. 



62 



ON CHANGING THK CONSTITUTION IN 
REGARD TO RELIGION 

Proud should every American be, 

To know that he lives in this land of the west 
That has long been the home of the brave and the 
free, 
The refuge for all the world's wronged and op- 
pressed. 

For each one can point with the justest of pride, 
(Deep sanguine pride that should not abate), 

To the parts of our statutes that strictly provide, 
"There shall be no union of church with the 
state." 

For this cause alone should each one rejoice, — 
Should consider himself as signally blest, — 

For his prayers can ascend to the God of his choice, 
And no one on earth even dares to molest 

When the church and the state are in unity blended, 
With the act that so wills is our best right laid 
low, — 

The days of our freedom are practically ended. 
And liberty's form is crushed by the blow. 

63 



ON CHANGING THE CONSTITUTION 

For then some one would have the dominion, 
Over the tenets of some other's mind, — 

The finest example,— should we use our opinion, — 
Of the essence of tyranny, doubly refined. 

The fathers they bled for a chance to ordain it, 
The mothers they wept for each drop as it fell; 

Should we, as their offspring-, fail to maintain it, 
'Twould a sad tale of ing-ratitude tell. 

Yet in our land are those so despotic, — 

Those with their minds so basely derang-ed, — 

As to make them so utterly unpatriotic. 

As to wish that our blest Constitution was 
chang-ed; 

Those so debased in their mental decisions. 
As to think that our country is sadly in need 

Of chang-ing- its statutes' most blessed provisions 
To suit some big-ot's dog-matical creed. 

Those thus misled are demented in reason. 

Or their breasts are ag-low with an unholy flame. 

As vag-ue, as impure, as unhallowed as treason, — 
As fit for contempt, — as worthy of shame. 



64 



ON CHANGING THE CONSTITUTION 

And they that would be as silent spectators 

To the minutest chang-e in that valuable scroll, 

Stand in the rank and the file with the traitors, 
Side unto side, and cheek unto jowl 

He who insists that chang-es are needed, 

Should at once be transferred to the land of a 
throne. 
Where the laws of the state and the monarch are 
creeded, 
And the creed be directly opposed to his own. 

Septembers, i8go. 



65 



ON THE SPANISH-AMERICAN WAR 

When the Stars and the Stripes over "Morro" are 
flying-,* 

When on suppliant knee recalcitrant Spain 
Is suing" for peace, — has ceased her denying- 

The fact that her ag-ents destroyed "The Maine;" 

When with the valor of fabled Achilles, 

For humanity's sake, — not unscrupulous g"ain, — 

We have wrested "the pearl of the lovely Antilles" 
Forever from under the scepter of Spain; 

Thoug-h long- be the tale, or short be the story, 
The conflict be brief, or the combat be sore, 

Our country will win a circlet of g"lory 
That was never accorded a nation before. 

As the vast panorama of nations is shifted. 

To an air that is rendered by a "concert of 
powers," 

Sovereig-ns will bow, and crowns will be lifted, 
In deference due this republic of ours. 

*General Fitzhug-h lyce sent word to General Weyler by the 
pilot who took "The Fern" out of the harbor, that 
'"The Fern" would be the last American vessel to leave 
Havana while the Spanish flag- flies over Morro. Thus 
it occurred to me that, when the Spanish flag- ceased to 
fly over the fortress, for a time at least the Stars and 
Stripes would fly in its place. 

66 



ON THK SPANISH-AMERICAN WAR 

Thoug-h king-s may deny, and cabinets dissemble, — 
May vow they are strong-, when in truth they 
are weak, — 

Monarchs will quake, and thrones they will tremble, 
Whenever our country has reasons to speak. 

Then as a people intensely delig-hted. 

We'll rejoice in the fact that the strug-g-le is o'er; 
That our differing- States are cemented, — United, — 

In union much strong-er than ever before. 

For we will have forgotten some sad recollections 
(A fact all our people can hig-hly extol) — 

This bickering- zeal bestowed upon sections 
Will forever be lost in the pride of the whole. 

We will also have learned some lessons substantial 
That will deeply pervade each American heart. 

With knowledge pertaining to matters financial 
And that substance so subtle, diplomacy's art. 

Nor will all of the good accrue to this nation. 
But will rather instead for the whole world ob- 
tain. 

In extending the bounds of civilization, 

And giving more breadth unto liberty's plain. 



67 



ON THE SPANISH-AMFRICAN WAR 

*'The war," says Crispi, "has unpleasant surprises," 
But well does the veteran of Italy know, 

That as monarchy wanes, democracy rises, 
With face all afiush with liberty's g-low. 

As a government's power by the governed is 
granted. 

Ere many decades we shall probably see 
Some kingdoms of Europe by republics supplanted, 

Their princes dethroned, their people made free. 

May 2gth, i8g8. 



68 



TWO CAMPAIGN SONGS 

Those who in ninety-six blundered, 
With oblivion flirted like *'Bill,"* 
In the glorious year nineteen-hundred, 
May return to the fold if they will; 
If their heads are yet so unlevel, 
As to make them self -set in their way, 

They can simply just g-o to the 

Evil one's reg-ions and stay. 

May the salt tears never g-row dry on 

The cheeks of those traitors so bold. 
Who deserted the standard of Bryan, 
For McKinley, or Palmer, or Gold. 

Should we when we deal with our islands, 

Ig-nore their citizens' wills? 
While the law for New Eng-land's hig-hlands 

Applies to New Mexico's hills? 
It is nothing- but base prostitution, 

To secure a few rich men some "swag-," 
When we let not our blest Constitution, 
Walk hand in hand with the flag-. 

With our old friends, "Mike" and "Bill" 
Ryan, 
We will stand in the ranks as of old 
And thrust in our ballots for Bryan, — 
To Sheol with this dog-ma for Gold. 

*"Bill"— William D. Bynum. 



73 



TWO CAMPAIGN SONGS 



NOTE TO THK PRESIDENT S WAR 

The Philippine war stands on the pag-es of history as a 
monument to the erring- judgement of President McKinley, 
and will forever furnish an example of Shakespeare's apho- 
rism, "The evils men do live after them." Had he listened 
more to the dictates of justice and not so much to the clam- 
or of exploiters, he would have deprived history of one dis- 
graceful page. 

The Hon. Thomas K. Boyd was selected as a national 
speaker for the campaign of 1900, and a peroration of his, 
as near as I remember, was, "Where sleep the bones of our 
soldier dead on the burning sands of Luzon, no other flag 
shall e'er salute the dawn," which R. M. Isherwood, of the 
Noblesville Democrat, delighted to refer to as "Tom Boyd 
bleaching his bones on the sands of Luzon," etc. These 
and some other things are responsible for "The President's 
War" as I have written it, and 1 take pleasure in dedicating 
it to Comrades Dr. Albert R. Tucker and Hon. Henry M. 
Caylor. 

(b) the president's war 

There comes an awful tumult from the Orient afar, 
Lfike the rattling" and the rumbling* of a broken rail- 
way car; 
'Tis the loud reverberation of the presidential war, 
Of the President's awful war. 

We read with thrills of horror how our generals act 

the brute; 
And how our noble soldier boys bayonet and shoot, 
Trample Rig-ht and Constitution both squarely un- 
der foot. 

In this, the President's war. 

74 



TWO CAMPAIGN SONGS 

Yet as truly awful as all of this may be, 
On due deliberation, it somehow seems to me, 
We are yet to tell you of a worse calamity, 
In this, the President's war. 

For we hear the patient voters are soon to be an- 
noyed 
By the peanut fakir log-ic of Comrade Thomas Boyd, 
Whom they say that Marcus Hanna has so recent- 
ly employed 

To defend the President's war. 

We know what Tom will rave about, will storm 

and puff and blow, 
Will vow that all true patriots are ever thus and 

so; 
When it comes down to enlistment, Tom would be 

the last to g-o 

And fig-ht in the President's war. 

Yet Tom Boyd's body will lie rotting- in Luzon, 
The jackals and the buzzards will be feasting there- 
upon. 
The festive soul of Thomas- to the bow-wows will 
have gone, 

Kre ends the President's war. 



75 



PRIMARY TIMES IN HAMILTON 
COUNTY 

Primary times are awful times, 
If our senses don't delude us, 

When Republican sinners are led to crimes 
By a Democratic Judas. 

When many a first-class citizen 
Lifts hand ag-ainst his brother, 

And scores of real g-ood Christian men 
Tell lies upon each other. 

And many another his veng-eance soothes 
As he fiing-s, — without fear or favor, — 

The cover back from hidden truths 
Of decided skunk-like flavor. 

A ^'primary" hath more evils still. 
For each little g-ambling- *'hedg-er" 

Stakes his "dough" to enforce the will 
Of The Hamilton County Ledger. 



76 



THE INAUGURAL ADDRESS OF 1901 

As we peruse the President's inaug^ural address, 
Small is the knowledge it imparts us, if you please; 

For 'tis composed of bluff, and brag-, and g-uess, — 
*'A g-littering- mass of incongruities." 

The whole thing is merely lingual chaff, — 
An empty document, — a simple hollow cast, — 

Possessing not a single line or paragraph 
In harmony with our traditions of the past. 

The Declaration's principles are all ignored. 
The Constitution's truths are thrust aside; 

Those who subscribe to them are duly scored. 
While ample quantities of self-praise are supplied. 

It seems that he endeavors, as he prates. 
In all his readers' minds to firmly fix, 

That the history of these United States 

Has all transpired since eighteen ninety-six. 

He would revive a policy and call it something 
new, — 
A law of which the world knows nothing as more 
old,— 
Would make this country's masses subservient to 
few, — 
The majority of citizens the sycophants of gold. 
69 



THE INAUGURAL ADDRESS OF 1901 

He would as deliberate, and as artfully, pursue 
The policies by which Augustus stole the liber- 
ties of Rome; 
Cast aside all our traditions, — sidetrack the public 
view, — 
On useless wars abroad and prosperity at home. 

Fain would he lead the people to forget 

The trials our fathers were forced to undergo, 

Before they could the host of tyranny upset, — 
Deal imperialism their forceful, staggering blow. 

He does not appear to know this nation and its laws 
(Where all men are free, or are supposed to be), 

Is but the good results of many a worthy cause, 
In centuries of search for liberty 

The road is long that does not have a turn; — 
Consistant member of the A. O. F.* is he, 

Who from the past can not some lesson learn, 
Of use to those that are, and those that are to be. 

Well may we call that man a blooming fool, 

Who in the light of facts is so deceived or dumb, 

That he would fain adopt this maxim as a rule, — 
"Life is so long, the judgment can not come." 

The time will come, — no matter who it be, — 
When his career will in the judgment set; — 

For his vanity it somehow seems to me, 

The hand of God may smite our President yet. 

March 9, igoi. 
*A. O. F.— "Ancient Order of Fools." 

70 



TWO CAMPAIGN SONGS OF 1900 

(a) silver and BRYAN 

Our land's in the midst of a crisis, 

The result of conspiracies bold, 

That have used all sorts of devices, 

To raise up an idol to Gold. — 
How can we avert this sad crisis, 
Thwart these conspiracies bold, 
Make fruitless these many devices, 
And tear down this idol of Gold? — 
Just wait and sternly rely on 

The power that our citizens hold. 
And trust they will all vote for Bryan, 
And ruin this idol of Gold. 

There are those who think 'twould be better 

(If true be the thing-s we are told) — 
That for each fifty cents loaned the debtor, 

He should pay back one dollar in g-old. 
How can we destroy this fetter. 

Loosen the tentacle fold 
That binds the unfortunate debtor 
To this octopus demon of Gold? — 
Just act the part of the lion, — 

Do something- as equally bold; — 
Just cast all our ballots for Bryan, 
And throttle this demon of Gold. 
71 



TWO CAMPAIGN SONGS 

Let each one vie with his neighbor, 

To shear this gold de'il of his horns; 
To shield the moist brow of labor 

From this damnable ''garland of thorns;" 
Let us strive to save the affliction, 

The deluge of misery untold, 
That would follow mankind's crucifixion, 
On a "cross that is made out of gold." 
With the zeal of pilgrim to Zion, 

We will use all these ballots we hold, 
For success of Silver and Bryan, — 
For defeat of McKinley and Gold. 

Must we hark to the press that would scold us, 

Make us England's supremacy own? 
Or, as Uncle "Dick" Thompson has told us,* 

Believe we can go it alone? 
Must we bow in as utter submission, 

As sycophant servants of old? 
Submit to the awful condition, 
That makes us slaves unto Gold? 
W^ith the courage of Admiral Tryon, 

We will see that our ballots are polled 
On the side of Silver and Bryan, 
To blot out our slavery to Gold. 

^The venerable Colonel Richard W. Thompson, when dis- 
cussing- the Republican Platform of 1896, in referring- 
to the plank declaring- for "free coinag-e by interna- 
tional ag-reement," remarked that "America is big- 
enoug-h to g-o it alone on all economic questions." 

72 



MONEY AND BRAINS 

Oh! For a means to wipe out these stains, 

That mark this deg-enerate day, 
When money supplants both merits and brains, 

And virtue has nothing- to say. 

An age that's possessed of prospects for none, — 

That consig-ns all men to the ditch, 
Save the one who by birth g-ood luck made the son 

Of the man who chanced to be rich. 

Yet arrog-ant people may boasting-ly say 

Our lines speak other than truth. 
But "just all the same," be that as it may. 

It's a blig-ht on the spirit of youth. 

'Tis a sad day for earth, and especially our land. 
When brains by wealth are surpassed. 

When youth is forbidden the chance to expand. 
By the damnable theory of caste. 

Were Jefferson's principles fully applied, 
Such state of things would not be; — 

For the blessing's of nature are never denied 
To men that are equal and free. 

April iith^ I go I. 
77 



Personal Section 



Index to Personal Section — 

Introduction of W. W. Pfrimmer 

Viola and Christina 

Marj 

Epistle to Mary 

"Gracie Divine" 

"Lillie Banker" 

The Handsome First Lady of Gray 

Transition — A Cong-ratulation 

The Apolog-y 

To a Bachelor Friend 

To Bert B. Kllis 

To My Father 

Back at Winona 

"If Man But Knew What Nature Knows" 

"Of the Making of Books There Is No Knd' 

Sonnet to a Critic 

On a Young* Man Choosing- a Profession 



80 



INTRODUCTION OF W. W. PFRIMMER 

The splendid pleasure comes to me 
To stand before you as you see, 
And introduce to all of ye 
The poet of the Kankakee. 

Indeed his happy, wholesome rhymes. 
Are not mere g-littering- pantomimes, 
But fitted well to suit our times. 
And sweeter are than vesper chimes. 

He may call it flattery, — 
Yet I put forth this prophecy: — 
An ag-e may pass, ere we shall see 
Another such a one as he. 

And in the years that are to come, 
When all of us are cold and dumb, 
Riley's name and his will *'chum," 
In poetry of Hoosierdom. 

His works such merits comprehend. 
My words can not too hig-h commend, 
So I'll just stop, — and here extend 
The introduction of my friend. 

November 21st, igo2. 

81 



VIOLA AND CHRISTINA 

Two lovely sisters, full of fun, 
Live with their dear old mother; 

Viola is the name of one, 
Christina of the other. 

The lurid tint of loveliest rose, 

Of phlox and g-ladioli, 
As the meerest nothing- shows, 

Compared with dear Viola. 

The sweetest perfume of the pinks. 

Of fuchsia and verbena, 
Into vag-ue oblivion sinks, 

Contrasted with Christina 

Kach in her way is staid and firm 
As "statutes of Westminster;" — 

I'll bet my hopes for a g-overnor's term 
That each will be a spinster. 

i8g2. 



82 



MARY 

Some g-irls fail to catch my eye, 

Some make my pulses vary; — 
But it always makes my heart bound hig-h, 

When I behold my Mary. 

Those tulip cheeks, that laug-hing- eye, 

Those lips so like a cherry, 
Make me think that I could die, 

Could I but win my Mary. 
******* 
I could not if I were to try, 

Say aug-ht extraordinary; — 
To speak the truth, I can't deny 

I'm "dead" in love with Mary. 

When g-ard'ning- pays enough to buy 

A farm, a store, or diary, 
Then, and not till then, will I 

The question "pop" to Mary. 

Then should her loveliness reply 

With favors to my query. 
From that time on I sure will try 

To spend my life for Mary. 

And when I've laid life's burdens by 

For things more visionary, 
In Hades low, or Heaven hig-h, 

I'll wail or sing- of Mary. 
83 



EPISTLE TO MARY 

Dear Friend, 

To speak the truth in accents plain 

(Do not think I am unkind) — 
For four long- years I've tried in vain 

To banish Mary from my mind. 

Yet throug-h all the years I've tried 
To g-ive that lady no concern, 

Aught thrust the guard of will aside, 
And thoughts of Mary would return. 

Since I have tried, and for m}^ life 
I can not drive those thoug-hts away, 

I think I just will cease the strife, 
And let those sweet volitions stay. 

And more! — I think that I shall try 
To lend more color to "the crime," 

Just put all other subjects by 

And think of Mary all the time 



Oh! Cruel fates, thy sullen reig-n. 
Me pecuniary gfain forbids; 

Makes matrimonial thoughts as vain, 
As hopes of autumn katydids 



* * 
84 



EPISTLE TO MARY 

Perhaps 'tis more than I deserve, 
But for the want of better ends, 

I trust we can each other serve, 
In the capacity of friends. 

And through the years that intervene, 
Between the "Now" and the "Beyond," 

I think it would be "nothing- mean" 
If you and I should correspond. 

So as old Time applies his wing-, 
To shift the scenes in walks of men, 

Please assist the mails to bring- 
A sweet epistle now and then. 

February^ i8gg. 



85 



"GRACIE DIVINK" 

It was worth all my interest in heaven, 
All the portion of earth that was mine, 

To spend an evening- from six to eleven. 
In the smiles of dear "Gracie divine." 

The moon and the stars ceased to g-listen, 

Even the sun failed to shine, 
When I had the occasion to listen 

To a song by dear "Gracie divine.". . . . 

My prospects they all turned as yellow 
As the squash when the frost nips the vine, 

When I learned that another g-ood fellow 
Had wedded sweet "Gracie divine." 



86 



"LILLIE BANKER" 

"Lillie Banker," pretty g-irl, 
With rosy cheeks and teeth of pearl, — 
With a winsome, radiant smile. 
One can see for half a mile! . . . . 

Oh, sinful man! What thoughts are his, 
To note how handsome Lillie is; 
Such puts strang-e bees into his hat. 
And makes his heart g-o "pit-a-pat." 

Her gentle way so sweet appears. 
It makes one 'most forget his years, — 
His wrinkles and gray hairs forget, 
And think he is a minor yet. 

It would indeed be something sweet 
To have the privilege to compete 
With the richest of the land, 
For the gift of Lillie's hand 

Oh! For a tongue to curse this day, 
For I am both old and gray, — 
Not that age is a disgrace. 
But would it not be out of place 
For an ancient lad like me 
To court a lady young as she? 



igo2. 



87 



THE HANDSOME FIRST LADY OF GRAY 

A¥ith a coal black steed to a rubber tire prancing-, 
With a g-reen feather boa, coquettish^ g-ay, 

'Neath a blue velvet hat with its ostrich plumes 
dancing-, 
Proudly rides out the First Lady of Gray. 

With her veil well thrown back, and her "Kis-me 
g-um" chewing, 

She smiles as she speaks to the folks by the way. 
Who cut out their toils, and cease their tasks doing-. 

To g-aze at the handsome First Lady of Gray. 

They gaze as if they thoug-ht it a duty, — 
A homage that they should respectfully pay. 

In deference due to the exquisite beauty 

Extant in the handsome First Lady of Gray. 

With pride each one of her friend Quaker neig-hbors, 
Respectfull}^ fashion each word that they say, — 

Devotedly use the most of their labors. 

In apeing the handsome First Lady of Gray. 

I would not say aught to spoil a good story. 
Yet arrang-ement of thing-s compels me to say, 

If you want the best place on this side of g"lory. 
Just "swap" with the handsome First Lady of 
Gray. 



TRANSITION— A CONGRATULATION 

Soon an event shall occur, — 

If true be the things people say, — 

When the beautiful "Belle of Ben Hur," 
Shall become "The First Lady of Gray." 

Why! It will create quite a "stir," — 
Will lend great renown to the day 

When the beautiful "Belle of Ben Hur" 
Becomes "The First Lady of Gray." 

Though it be not as we would prefer, 
We sure can no rancor display. 

To oifend the sweet "Belle of Ben Hur," 
Or annoy "The First Lady of Gray." 

But instead will most fully concur, 
And ask that old Time speed the day 

When the beautiful "Belle of Ben Hur" 
Shall become "The First Lady of Gray." 

In truth, we can never demur, — 
In short we have nothing to say 

But "Farewell, sweet 'Belle of Ben Hur'— 
Welcome, 'First Lady of Gray'." 



89 



THE APOLOGY 

Once g-iven an offense will be 
Remembered to the last; — 

True to the poet's simile, 

"As chang-eless as the past." 

Thoug-h the offended may forg-ive, 
The offense is ne'er forg-ot; 

While offended and offenders live, 
Their friendship bears a blot. . . . 



Man can not chang-e, nor even move 
The thing-s the die of time has cast;- 

So we the future must improve 
If we wish to mend the past. 

The one that wilfully offends. 
Just to make some others smile. 

And never tries to make amends, 
Por his pert imprudent wile, — 

Fate ever should to him deny, — 
Should never unto him extend, — 

The hallowed luxuries that lie 
In the person of a friend. 

90 



THE APOLOGY 

As perhaps most of you know, 

To entertain an audience, 
Upon a day not long ago, 

I gave a lady great offense. 

The audience both smiled and cheered, 
As if it were a master play; — 

Not without cause, I since have feared 
She has not loved me since that day. 

I can but only act the part 
Imposed by etiquette's decree; 

And ask with humble, contrite heart, 
O, Nellie — Pardon me. 

April 26th ^ 1^0 J. 



91 



TO A BACHELOR FRIEND 

When we read the stories of days g"one by, 
When ang-els were ming-ling- with men, 

With a silent g-roan, and an unheard sig-h, 
We wish we were living" then. 

When the beauties of Margaret our fancies eng-ag-e. 

We cease such fate to bewail, 
And would swap not the present for any old ag-e 

To be found on chronology's scale. 

Though Margaret boasts not a vestige of wings 
To prove claims as an angel are true, 

Yet she possesses enough other things 
To be angel sufi&cient for you. 

So let me admonish, sleep not on your right, 

But improve as if 'twere divine, 
And the elegant do, and this very night 

Ask the dear girl to be thine. 

igoo. 



92 



TO BERT B. ELLIS 

The great round sun will surely rise and set, 
The giddy planets still go whirling round, 

The blazing stars will yield their beauties yet, 
When thou and I are sleeping underground. 

Each flaming meteor will drag its fiery train, 

Exciting human wonder as before; 
The starry vault will mysteries contain, 

When thou and I are said to be no more. 

Winter's dreary ways will soften into spring, 

And spring to summer in time will yield a place; 

Autumn its load of fruits and grain will bring, 
And go again as winter comes apace. 

The babbling brooks will ripple toward the sea. 
The woods unfold their robes of living green. 

To change to brown or gray the leaf of bush and 
tree, 
As fast as nature bids the season shift the scene. 

**Time will with his solemn brood of care plod on," 
Nor will he cease to keep his stock of duty well in 
store; 
With ecstasies "the gay will laugh when thou art 
gone," 
"And each will chase his favorite phantom as 
before." 

93 



TO BKRT B. KI.LIS 

Thoug-h it may somewhat cloud the human mind, 
Distract the heart, — "may ravish human sense," — 

It is a proposition clear and well defined, 
One person is of little consequence. 

Our lang-uag-e has for quite a while been g-raced 
By a maxim that is very true and terse: 

Should it so occur one atom be displaced, 
That alone might wreck the universe. 

Thus might it be to suit some wise desig-n, 
That fate decreed that thou and I should be; 

Had we not best unto that fate resign. 
And humbly bow unto that fate's decree? 

And with the best of grace accept the several parts 

The accident of life has bid us play; 
Attempt with zeal,— with fulsome earnest hearts, — 

The duties it imposes every day? 

And does it not in bold relief appear. 
That children prone to thinking could 

Happily draw from thy or my career 
Some of the basic principles of good? 

And more, as we review and ponder o'er it all, 
Do we not evolve a proposition plain? — 

Thoug-h our parts in life are "really something- 
small," 
Yet those same parts are "really nothing- vain." 

94 



*T0 MY FATHER 

I cannot tell how much I owe my sire; 

The strength of body, mind and limb; 
All things in me that people most admire 
I ov/e to him. 

He taught me ever from my early youth 

To temperate be, and walk in wisdom's way; 
To ever do the right and speak the truth, 
Let come what may. 

He taught me that I should all evils shun; 

On all immoral things should place a ban; 
Be like the- noblest work that God has done — 
An honest man. 

He early led me in the light to know 

That slight reward awaits for those that shirk; 
That honors do accrue to those who show 
Worth by their work. 

As he by word and precept did me teach, 

And did the choicest treasures of his mind outpour, 
He showed me by his daily life all he did preach 
And something more. 

*This poem was read at the funeral of the late Seth R. 
Maker by the Rev. H. A. Cottingham. 

95 



If such example every father set before his son, 

And every son then emulate his sire 
In worth, men of this world would be — yes, every 
one — 

A few planes higher. 

And should my mind embody forth a prayer, 
And ask one boon, I'd ask that I should be. 
In all the parts life calls on me to bear, 
As true as he. 

Now that he has passed unto the g-reat unknown. 

My pleasant memories of him are such 
Throughout my coming years, I aye must own 
I owe him much. 

October yth^ ^9^5- 



96 



BACK AT WINONA 

[Respectfully dedicated to Rev. Henry Webb Johnson, D. 
D., director of Winona Assembly, in due acknowledg-ment 
for sug-g^estions, inspirations, etc.] 

The beautiful morning*, 

All nature adorning-, 
Too sweet for pencil or pen. 

Fills to full measure 

Our chalice of pleasure, 
To be at Winona ag-ain. 

The pictures so sainted. 

That nature has painted. 
For adornment of hillside and glen. 

Fill us with g-ladness. 

Almost unto madness. 
To be at Winona ag-ain. 

Althoug-h it is duty 

To recog-nize beauty, 
In all things wherever we can, 

Yet beauty is reckoned, 

As fitted for second. 
When we live at Winona again. 

97 



BACK AT WINONA 

What nature expresses 

In gaudy, gay dresses, 
Shrinks into nothingness when 

New friends we are meeting 

And old ones we're greeting, 
Back at Winona again. 

There is no employment 
But yields some enjoyment 

To sound-minded women or men,- 
Earth has no treasure. 
Possessed of more pleasure 

Than to be at Winona again. 



98 



''IF MAN BUT KNEW WHAT NATURE 
KNOWS" 

[Respectfully dedicated to my newly acquired friend, Dr. 
Henry W. Elson, Ph. D.] 

If man but knew what nature knows, 

What secrets she doth hold. 
It mines of knowledg-e would disclose, 

Of value more than g-old. 
O, vanity, how thou wouldst shrink, 

And vanish all thy shows. 
And pompous pride, how thou wouldst sink. 

If man but knew what nature knows. 

If man but knew what nature knows. 

Our volumes then how small; 
What little light our learning- throws 

On subjects one and all. 
O, literature, how strangely mute, 

And art, what senseless pose; 
O, sculpture, of what ill repute. 

If man but knew what nature knows. 

If man but knew what nature knows. 

What wisdom she could give 
Of every earthly thing that grows, 

Or has the power to live; 

99 

LQTQ. 



*'IF MAN BUT KNEW WHAT NATURE KNOWS 

Of every orb that floats in space, 

And there serenely g-lows; — 
'Twould savor of divinest grace, 

If man but knew what nature knows. 

If man but knew what nature knows, 

How blest would be his part; 
What happiness would round him close. 

What pleasures fill his heart; 
What fortune would attend him then 

To baffle human woes; 
O, what a golden age for men. 

If man but knew what nature knows, 

September loth^ 1903. 



100 



"OF THE MAKING OF BOOKS THERK IS 
NO END" 

[To Charles Kug-ene Batiks, President '^^''estern Associa- 
tion of Writers.] 

"Of the making- of books there is no end;" 
Since the very moment when time beg-an 

With a master hand to mix and blend 
Material thing's as time but can, — 
Wherever we search the infinite span, 

The hand of nature the facts extend, 
To clearly prove to the mind of man, 

"Of the making- of books there is no end." 

"Of the making- of books there is no end;" 

The very hills with their strata lines, 
And their deep ravines that downward wend 

Throug-h rag-g-ed shrubs and tang-led vines, 

Past stately oaks and slender pines. 
With their tuneful birds, for aye contend 

With an eloquence more than of great divines, 
"Of the making- of books there is no end." 

"Of the making- of books there is no end;" 
As the soft sweet summer breezes blow, 

Making- the trees to wave and bend 

And their shades on the g-reen sward come and g-o, 

101 



"of the making of books there is no end" 

Or their picture chang-e in the lake below, — 
Kach several chang-e doth a pag-e append 

To the world of books, to clearly show 
"Of the making- of books there is no end." 

"Of the making- of books there is no end;" 

When the frost king- reig-ns, and the winter snows 
In their mig-hty majesties descend. 

And their mantle white o'er the whole scene 
throws. 

Bringing- man and beast the train of woes 
That ever upon their wake attend, 

All reveal the truth, and the fact disclose, 
"Of the making- of books there is no end." 

"Of the making- of books there is no end;" 

Each one that inhabits this earthly sphere, 
With a fervor he scarce can comprehend, 

As he lives throug-h each succeeding- year 

And adds new phases to his career. 
With his every act doth outward send 

The evidence proving-, full and clear, 
"Of the making- of books there is no end." 

"Of the making- of books there is no end;" 

As time elapses from ag-e to ag-e. 
And the eras that g-o in their turns append 

To history's bulk another pag-e. 

Dispensing more light to savant and sage, — 
"To the ending doom" they ever bend 

Their tale to proclaim at every stage, 
"Of the making of books there is no end." 

102 



"of the making of books there is no end" 

"Of the making- of books there is no end;" 
And when we have passed to the end of time, 

To the place where our souls in Akasa^' blend, 
Or enter oblivion's sphere sublime, 
Or wander athwart some ethereal clime, — 

Methinks some tone will there attend, 

And proclaim more loudly than this poor rhyme, 

"Of the making- of books there is no end." 

November 2^th, igo^. 

*Akasa is an untranslated and untranslatable Sanskrit 
word. Its nearest Eng-lish equivalent is "ether." It 
differs from ether in the fact that ether is atomic, while 
Akasa is not. 



103 



SONNET TO A CRITIC 

[Respectfully dedicated to my esteemed friend, Hewitt 
Hanson Howland, editor of The Reader Magazine.^ 

It seems to me it oug^ht to g-ive the public pain, 

Each time occasion bids it view with me 
The lowly, sad, debased, degraded plane 

To which has sunk the status of true poetry; 

Childish chant and vague verbosity, 
Ditties, dialects and dog-g-erels, lead the muse's 
train, 

While "nig-g-er," "kid" and "crank" philosophy 
Is all the substance stanzas now contain; 
While haughty critics, boastful, proud and vain, 

In learned ignorance send forth high decree. 
In words enough to drive a man insane. 

Exalt mere stuff and taboo poetry; 
While such exists, the public must with me. 
Await a better age and bear the pain. 

December 2 2d, igo^. 



104 



ON A YOUNG MAN CHOOSING A 
PROFESSION 

Ralph I — And is it not a something sad indeed, 
When we view the future heaped on prospect's 
scale, 

See each of our several chances to succeed 
Outbalanced by a better chance to fail? 

Is it not enough to 'pall the stoutest heart, 
And make us wish we never had been born, 

Or censure fate for giving- us a start 

In this cold world with prospects so forlorn? 

The first I knew of this aifair called life, 

Was I was here; — irresponsible for being here; — 

Was forced upon these scenes of bustling strife, 
With duties that increase with every year 

I feel there is but one thing for a man to do 

(Owning man to be the victim of most cruel fate). 

Is to take his burden up, then wade like others 
through. 
Hard striving to retire from the dilemma straight. 

Indeed, all we can do, is lay our "ante" down, 
Then play the game of life for all that it is 
worth, — 

Trust upon our efforts Dame Fortune will not frown. 
That the mirage success will glorify our birth. 

105 



Speculative Section 



Index to Speculative Section — 

The Grave 

On the Location of Heaven 

On the Form of the Spirit 



108 



THE GRAVE 

What is thy mystery, oh, silent grave? 

Why is it that thou art so greatly feared. 
Alike by coward and the fearless brave, — 

So much despised, and yet so much revered? 

Art thou but a sort of little narrow bin. 

Where poverty, ambition, pride and all are hurled; 

Beauty, Youth and Age are plucked and garnered 
in, 
Or art thou but the portal to another world? 

Or art thou but a chest, in which the worms con- 
sume 

The flesh and steep the soul in everlasting night? 
Or but the entrance unto realms where souls resume 

Their earthly shapes and dwell in endless light? 

Or art thou just the gateway to an untried zone, 
Where all people go and ne'er return, — 

Walk in the light of mysteries unknown. 

That human power is still unable to discern? 



109 



THE GRAVE 

Or dost thou draw the curtain over all, — 
Success or failure, triumph or defeat, — 

Or fling- thine ebon mantle over g-reat and small. 
To let the living- know the drama is complete?. . . 

Say what we will, deep mystery holds sway; 

From out thy depths no mig-hty secrets flow; 
Poets, prophets and philosophers can only say, 

We do not — and we can not know! 

April lyth, I go I, 



110 



ON THE LOCATION OF HKAVKN 

What would I g-ive, could I but only know 

Unto what bourne the souls of the departed fly; 

Unto what realm they are consig-ned to go, — 

What portion of the universe that realm doth oc- 
cupy? 

And does it rest upon this world below, 

In dale, on hill, plateau, or level, g-rass-clad lea; 

On mountain peak, robed in perpetual snow, 
Or unknown isle in unexplored sea? 

Or does it find its truly wonted place. 
As spiritualism's crafty votaries say, 

Hard by, within the roomy realms of space, 
But one short, narrow, meager span away? 

Or does it lift itself above the sun and stars. 

Past worlds whose lights have not yet reached 
our own? 
And is it reached by trains of special cars 

That more than fly through worlds of space un- 
known? 



Ill 



ON THE I.OCATION OF HEAVEN 

Or is it reached by simpler means and shorter march? 

Is it confined within a narrower span, 
Beneath the ragged sutures of the cranial arch? — 

Within the speculative mind of man? .... 

We must lay the cloak of sophistry aside, 
Admit the truth, our human frailty own, 

And by the truth of Plato's line abide, 

'*A11 that we know is, nothing can be known." 

September loth^ ^Sgj. 



112 



ON THK FORM OF THE SPIRIT 

What would I g-ive to view with vision unobscured 
The portion of man's being- that lies beyond the 
tomb? — 

The pang-s or pleasures bj departed souls endured, 
The true, the actual shape a spirit must assume. 

Does it assume a superhuman guise. 

Possess a face of an immortal g'low, 
Lit up by soft, sweet, super-radiant eyes, — 

A spectacle surpassing human power to know? 

Or does it in the other world possess a shape 

As hideous as fetish idols are to Christian sig-ht, 

The form of newt, or viper, toad, or howling- ape. 
With face and visage black as murky nig-ht? 

What does it do when in the great beyond — 

How does it while the hours of vast eternity 
away ? 

Does it to sweet and blissful realms abscond. 
To spend a happy future in unending- day? 

Or does it in peace dwell in the great unknown, 
Unsubject unto alternating storms or calms. 

Or join in never-ending- parade around God's throne, 
Thrumming" a harp and sing-ing sacred psalms? 

113 



ON THE FORM OF THE SPIRIT 

Does it live in the beauties of an everlasting- day, 
Dwell in the pleasures of an eternal bliss? 

Doing- in that world, — thoug-h it be work or play,- 
That which it loved the best to do in this?. . . . 

Frail human power that can not penetrate 
Mysteries reposing- in the infinite alone; — 

Our weakness thus decrees, that we interpolate, 
It is not now, and never shall be known. 



114 



Religious Section 



Index to Rkligious Section — 

Upon Forgiveness 

A Sermon 

Hymn 

The Paramount Thought 

On the Power of the Infinite 

The Deacon's Desire 



118 



UPON FORGIVENESS 

Would every being- try to live 
Free from all vain pretenses; 

If every person could forgive, 
Or no one g-ive offenses! 

Could selfish people cease their strife, 

Or use some of their labor 
In putting- pleasure in the life 

Of some less happy neig^hbor! 

With no offenders 'mong- mankind. 

Or every one forg-iving-, 
Why, this would be a world refined. 

And life be worth the living- 

Such state is known to consist 

Of something- so unreal. 
That such millenium can't exist 

Outside of the ideal. 

Yet there is a chance for all 

That dwell within the nation, 
To use their mig-ht, however small. 
For its approximation. 

February 21^ 1^97- 
119 



A SERMON 

Text. — And with what measure ye mete, it shall be meas- 
ured to you ag-ain. — Matt. VII, 2. 

He that is unburdened by the vice of self-conceit, 
Will see some scriptures verified in every walk of 
men; 

Will see such measures as he did choose to mete 
To others, in fulness meted unto him again. 

The one that makes an arbitrary use of power, 
That does another wrong- throug-h wantonness, 

Will some time in his life experience an hour 
When he'll be forced to render up redress; 

When he must settle for the evil he has done. 
Must pay the penalties imposed by time; 

Must answer for his misdeeds, — every one, — 
Much as a culprit answers for his crime. 

For "he that dig's a pit himself shall fall therein;" 
The maker of an evil law shall suffer from its 
doom; 
The evil doer reaps the wag-es of his sin. 

For "vice" it is that "digs its own voluptuous 
tomb." 

Thus in the reig-n of terror, — that terrible affair, — 
When "France g-ot drunk on blood to vomit crime;" 

The fate of Danton, Marat, and of Robespierre, 

Exemplifies the truth in awfulness sublime. 

March, igoi. 
120 



HYMN 

Thoug"h pangs of grief may rend the heart, 

And tears may dim the eye, 
The very best of friends must part, — 

Must learn to say goodbye. 

Though weary age may think it hard, 
And wondering childhood think it strange, 

'Tis but in fullest strict accord 
With nature's law of change. 

Life holds a radiant charm for youth, 
That makes it loth to lay it by, 

As years steal on and show their truth, 
They bid that subtle radiance fly. 

It is a truth that nought explains, 
(Nor can we state the reason why), 

The greater years that one attains. 
The less that person dreads to die. 

When death — mankind's eternal bane, — 
Sounds the call to cease the strife, 

It hath not then the slightest pain 
For those that make the most of life. 
121 



HYMN 

Thoug-h death its weig-ht of dread supplies, 
Attended close by sullen grief, 

It often g-ives the one that dies 
A happy measure of relief. 

Oh! Is there mortal man so vain, 
That he would a '^Struldbrug-" be, 

Bear life's sorrow, care and pain. 
For all eternity? 

November, i8gg. 



\11 



THE PARAMOUNT THOUGHT 

The paramount thoug*ht in the human mind, — 

A part of its general plot, — 
It is the earnest desire of all mankind, 

Never to be forgot. 

Most people would like to have it so. 

Happen whatever will. 
Though countless ages come and go. 

To be remembered still. 

Few but would yield the very last breath 

In hazardous enterprise, 
If they thought that through vainglorious death 

Their names should immortally rise. 

Let them believe in a God or not. 

The story is just the same; 
They are willing to do no matter what. 

To earn a deathless name. 



In awful agonies on the rack, 
Erostratus did explain, 

To roll oblivion's mantle back, 
He burned Diana's fane. 

123 



THK PARAMOUNT THOUGHT 

The peasant standing- bj his king-, 

By Pantheon's aperture, 
In mind conceived an awful thing 

To make his name endure. 

The man who g-uides the ship of state 

Strives to conduct his sway 
So that mankind will call him g-reat 

When he has passed away. 

The rich erect great monuments, 

In tombs of sculptured stone. 
So when their souls have journeyed hence, 

Their names shall still be known. 

The poor who know that death shall claim 

In time their earthly mold, — 
Whom fate denies the bauble fame. 

And fuller tithe of gold, — 

Erect somewhere in roomy space 

A sweet elysium fair, 
And then reserve themselves a place 

To dwell forever there. 

We do believe none dare disown. 

Or would the fact ignore. 
Our best desire is to be known, 
Somewhere, forevermore. 

March 28^ igoi. 
124 



ON THE POWER OF THE INFINITE 

The power that once could make me live, 
Can surely make me live again, 

Should it but please that power to give 
Life unto souls as unto men. 

In truth, I really can not see, 

Why that same power at pleasure may 
Not build a soul for eternity. 

Just like a body for a day. 

Though life just comes,— or be it sent,— 

Be it effect, — or be it cause, — 
Of Deity, — or accident. 

It well attests harmonious laws. 

Something causes rain to fall. 
Aught makes the snow to crystallize. 

And groups the stars, both great and small, 
In constellations in the skies. 

Nature everywhere displays. 
The cunning of an unseen hand. 

That seems to work in dubious ways. 
We do not wholly understand. 
125 



ON THE POWER OF THE INFINITE 

In Spite of low-born human aims, 
Of who may scoff, or who applaud, 

The Universe each day proclaims 
That nature's laws are laws of God. 

And everywhere, — both hig-h and low,— 
Where space by heavenly orbs is lit, 

Material thing's all tend to show 
The potent power of the infinite. 

Aprils I go I. 



126 



THE DEACON'S DESIRE 

O, if there be a place on hig-h, 

Where ang-el mounts on snowy wing-, 

Where cherub soars athwart the sky, 

With his g-olden harp and its silver string- 
That he sweetly plays, while seraphim sing, 

In rare, rich notes, more sweet and clear 
Than melodious tones of anything 

That yet hath fallen on mortal ear; 

Again, if that place is all decked out. 
In the halcyon scenes of the long- ago; 

If its smiling vistas are compassed about 

With the faces of friends that we used to know, 
Mind can not conceive of lovelier show, 

And forthwith the desire grows strong in me, 
That that is the place where I want to go 

To spend the scope of eternity. 

If life is probation, O let me live 
An exemplary life, in which abounds 

The requisite things it takes to give 

Me full admission to those hallowed grounds. 
Where angel song and harp resounds. 

And the old friends smile as a bride in her teens; — 
Then for aye let me hear those enchanting 
sounds, — 

Forever behold those entrancing scenes. 

January, 1^04.. 

\11 



Sundry Sonnets to Pope Leo XIII 



SUNDRY SONNETS TO POPE LEO XIII 



The force of circumstances compels us to revere 
The reverend Sage that fills St. Peter's chair; 
For when we study well his grand career, 

Which of his predecessors can with him compare? 
Should they from out their graves arise, which one 
would dare 
Contest with him the right to Papal fame? 
For if a greater Pope did live, what annals do 
declare 
The fact — what volume speaks his name? 
As well as Pope he is philosopher and sage, — 

An ornament unto the lofty place he fills; 
Fit head of a mighty church, in an enlightened age; 
His name's an inspiration; his teaching ever 
thrills 
Us with desire for nobler aims and better deeds, and 

should 
At all times cast our little might upon the side of 
good. 



131 



SONNET TO POPE LEO XIII 



II 

One thing- that makes the mig-hty Leo great, 

That showeth him superior of king's, 
Is his firm tendency to separate 

The spiritual from the temporal things; — 
Grant full divorce between the Church and State; — 

Have men to worship God from choice and not 
by law; — 
Such with liberal men is never out of date, 

But is a means that ever tends to draw 
Men to the Church, and drive them not away. 

If all men would this spirit emulate, 
' Twould bring- to earth a better, brig-hter day; 

The world with ecstasy would then await 
The time when men would cease this strife for pelf, 
And each would love his neig-hbor as himself. 



132 



SONNET TO POPE LEO XIII 



III 

Had Leo been the Pope since Anno Domini, 

Conjecture can scarce supply "what mig-ht have 
been;" 
Dark pag-es would be torn from History, 

The Church be shrived of many an earthly sin; 
We could not then read of those cruel days, 

When men did dare to die for conscience' sake, — 
When Earth was treated to such g-allery plays. 

As Huss and Cranmer at the stake; 
All these and more would fully be erased, 

And annals of much better thing-s be in their 
place; 
The story of the Inquisition would be effaced, 

And Catholicism shorn of much disgrace; 
And Christian history would be freig-hted then. 
With more peace on earth, and better will to men. 



133 



SONNET TO POPF LEO XIII 



IV 



The Reaper Death has g-leaned the g-iants of his 
day,— 

Most of the great minds of his century are g"one; 
The comrades of his prime 'most all have passed 
away, 

Yet his frail body still keeps living- on; 
And we admire the g^reatness of the man. 

Who physically was never over-strong-; 
Considering- his ninety years, we only can 

Wonder why it is, that he has lived so long-; 
Yet as we reflect, the reason will appear, 

How he has lived, this wicked world to bless, 
Is by doing- rig-ht, and keeping- conscience-clear, 

Living on simple fare — committing- no excess. 
So from his life we can this moral draw. 
He long-est lives, who lives by nature's law. 



134 



SONNKT TO POPE LEO XIII 



V 



When he told his people in America to use the 
public school, 

And g-ive the child relig-ious training- in the home; 
Advised the French to live in peace with the 
Republic's rule, 

He shed a g-lowing- luster upon the Church of 
Rome. 
That for principle and not policy, he this did do. 

Will ever to his credit in bold relief appear, 
When it is known he cut the Papal revenue. 

By nearly twenty million francs a year. 
To view his blameless life all throug-h, it would 

Seem that he has ever been a servant of the rig-ht, 
Obeying" the commands dictated him by g"Ood, 

For g-lorious advancement of the eternal rig^ht. 
Knowing- his death is near at hand, we must reg-ret 
His ag-e forbids he can not live a century yet. 



135 



SONNET TO POPE LEO XIII 



VI 



And could another hundred years be his, 

With no misg-iving-s we believe they would 
Add ten decades of glory to what is, — 

Be to this world a potent source of g-ood. 
For we believe each several utterance 

Of his, forthcoming every now and then. 
With this wicked, cruel world perchance 

Would plead for purer homes, and cleaner, better 
men. 
Speaking from his high place as Pope, 

Gives to his words a better, farther reach, — 
Deeper effect, a grander, broader scope, 

Than things ten thousand orators may preach. 
For every sentence by his lips unfurled. 
Precipitates a sound that echoes round the world. 



June iith^ igoi. 



136 



Sparkological Section 



This Section is respectfully dedicated 

to the fast-fading memory of the 

dear girls that would 

not have m,e 



Index to Sparkologicai. Section — 

Don't Forg-et the Giver 

Unhampered, Unloved, and Alone 

The One That Loves You the Best of All 

When 

The Lady I Am Looking- For 

To the One That I Love 

Fain Would I Be with the Lady I Love 

The Dream 

The Closet Just Under the Stair 

Sonnet 



142 



DON'T FORGET THE GIVER 

Please accept with deferent grace 

The g-ift I now deliver, 
As fleeting- years steal on apace, 

Please don't forg-et the g^iver. 

Thoug^h pierced by every phantom dart, 

In love's enchanted quiver, 
Just clasp this volume to your heart. 

And don't forg-et the g-iver. 

Should you dwell in frescoed halls, 
And hireling's round you shiver, 

When on this g-ift your vision falls, 
Pray don't forg-et the g-iver. 

Or should you g-lide in humble bark, 

Adown life's stormy river, 
Be its pathway lig-ht or dark. 

Oh, don't forg-et the g-iver. 

Thoug-h hatred's mountains may divide, 

Or seas of fate may sever, 
Guard this gift with jealous pride, 

And don't forget the giver. 

143 



UNHAMPERED, UNLOVED, AND ALONE 

'Tis a pleasure to know that ag-ain I am free, 

That my heart it again is my own; 
That I sail as I please on life's reffluent sea, 

Unhampered, unloved, and alone. 

My heart it bounds high and my spirits are g"ay, 
As if buoyed up by something- unknown, — 

Perhaps 'tis the thought that wherever I stray 
I'm unhampered, unloved, and alone. 

I will roam through the realms of many a clime, - 
Will wander through many a zone, — 

Will ramble about just to pass away time. 
Unhampered, unloved, and alone. 

It is truly an exquisite pleasure to me, — 

The sweetest I ever have known. 
That I sail as I please on life's stormy sea, 

Unhampered, unloved, and alone. 

1887. 



144 



THK ONE THAT LOVES YOU THE BEST 
OF ALL 

As the passing- years "may flag- or fly," 

If by chance your eyes on these stanzas fall, 

Remember the one they were written by, — 
'Twas he that loved you the best of all. 

Thoug-h fortune decks your higher state, 
And your ear attends to honor's call. 

Oh! Envy not the erring- fate. 

Of the one that loved you the best of all. 

Oh! Do not think he is unjust. 
Or that his stonj^ heart is small. 

For it was you that could not trust 
The one that loved you the best of all. 

Worry not, nor sig-h, nor fret. 

Nor scenes of pleasures past recall, 

But suffer never to forg-et, 

The one that loved j'OU the best of all. 

Oh! Never be a slave to fate, 

Nor subject unto amour's thrall, 
But when thou seekest thee a mate, 

Seek him thou lovest the best of all. 

1887 or 1888. 
145 



WHEN 

When will our hearts be lig-hter, 
And our spirits be as g'aj? 

When will our hopes be brig-hter, 
Than they are to-day? 

When will our chance be better, 
Upon life's path to stray; 

More free from bond or fetter, 
Than we are to-day? 

When will our lives be longer, 
When will we feel the ray 

Of mutual love the strong-er, 
Than we do to-day? 

Will it be when we are older — 
When our hair is silver-g-ray? 

When our mortal portions moulder 
In the cold and silent clay? 

Will it be when ag-e is telling, 
When the flower of life is flown? 

Or when our souls are dwelling 
In the misty, great unknown? 
146 



WHEN 

Will it be when we are parted — 

When one of us is g"one, 
And the other, broken-hearted, 

Must still keep living- on? 

While the present's g-loating- o'er us, 
'Tis with pleasure that we find 

That most of life's before us. 
And but little is behind. 

While wanting* better season, 
While yet in youthful prime. 

It is plain unto our reason, 
Now is the sanctioned time 

For us to destine whether 

In the future you and I 
Shall live parted or tog^ether 

From now until we die. 

March 2yth, 1888. 



147 



THE LADY I AM LOOKING FOR 

Long- have I cherished a hidden plan, 
For almost an ag-e have I tarried, 

Looking- about for some "female man," 
That is dead for a chance to g-et married. 



Whose ang-el-like ways and beauties are such 
As to merit me calling- her " honey," 

One who, by her mag-ical touch, 
Can turn cheap rhymes into money. 

One whose masculine attributes are 
The kind all my defects to cover; 

With whom my talents are ever at par, 
And is proud to call me her lover. 

Should the fates controlling- connubial bliss, 
Decide that thus they will mate me, 

With my fortunes linked to a lady like this, 
Fame will most surely await me. 

May igth, igoj. 



148 



TO THE ONE THAT I LOVE 

Oh, pride of my heart, that I proudly can style you 
The one whom my love for can never depart; — 

But excuse me, (for I wish not to beg-uile you, 
Nor spread discontent o'er your fetterless heart, 

Or by smooth, flattering- words to rashly compel you 
To deliver to me all the charms you possess), 

My effort is but an endeavor to tell you, 
Of love that no words can ever express. 

For as rock the great waves in the deep, briny 
ocean. 

When turbulent g-ales are blowing above, 
So throbs my heart with -the deepest emotion. 

While lisping the name of the one that I love. 

Never, oh, never, while to love is in fashion. 

Or the law still exists that makes lovers be true. 

Shall this throbbing heart forget the fond passion, 
That long has existed within it for you. 

Had I all the wealth concealed in the mountains, 

Had I all the pearls that are hid in the sea. 
Had I a fine palace, with its groves and its foun- 
tains, 
I could not be happy if parted from thee. 

July, 1885, 
149 



FAIN WOULD I BE WITH THE 
LADY I LOVE 

Fain would I be with the lady I love, 

O, fain with her would I be, 
Whom I reverence more than the ang-els above, 

Or the ''sirens down under the sea." 

Her face is more fair to my mind, 
Her form can more beauties display. 

Than art has in color designed. 
Or sculpture has modelled in clay. 

The mythical leg-ends of old 

Of elves and of fairies so fair. 
Not half so much witchery hold 

As lurks in her aureate hair. 

The beautiful orbs of the nig-ht, 

That shine throug-h the dark from the sky. 
To me they are never so brig-ht 

As the glance of her beautiful eye. 

The effect of Luna's pale beam. 

As it falls on some tropical isle. 
Is a faint, insignificant gleam. 

Compared with her radiant smile. 

Why sing of the glories above. 
Of the sweets that in paradise be? 

Where'er is the lady I love. 
That spot it is heaven to me. 
150 



THE DRKAM 

Outward I peered throug-h the stilly nig-ht, 

Across the lawn so shady, 
Methoug-ht I saw by the moon's pale lig-ht 

The handsome form of "my lady." 

Robed in raiment of spotless white, 
Her hair in the nig-ht-wind streaming-, 

Her face ag*low with intense delight. 
Her eyes with pleasure beaming-. 

Tossing- her head with a careless air, 
And a sweet old love-tune sing-ing-, 

As if enjoying- the pleasure rare 

Of some heavenly message bringing. 

Tell me, dearest, what have you there. 
That fills your cup of pleasure; 

What happy news does "my lady" bear. 
That her cup o'erflows its measure? 

Says she, " It is but the same old tale, 

That adorns romance's pages; 
Though the story is old, it is never stale, 

And has been so through the ages; 
151 



THE DREAM 

"To tell jou the truth, I must declare 
By the heaven that bends above you — 

By every deity I will swear, 

That with all my heart I love you." 

Says I, " My dear, if you tell me true, 
I must make the same confession. 

For you love me no more than I love you, 
As I'd prove had I expression.". . . . 

But a "moping- owl " on a bough near by, 
With his weird, obstreperous screaming-, 

Disturbed my sleep so much that I 
Awoke to find I was dreaming. 

Curses be on that ominous bird. 

That called from such scenes Klysian, 

That could, by his chilly screeches absurd, 
Wreck such a heavenly vision. 

August 2ist, igo^. 



152 



THE CLOSET JUST UNDER THE STAIR 

Once I went to see "Moddy," 

But it turned out a quite sad affair; 

For the darling-, she hid her whole body 
In a closet just under the stair. 

Where with eyes tear-stained like a mourner, 
And all "hunkered" down like a bear, 

She crouched 'way back in a corner 
Of the closet just under the stair. 

As her grace that dominion invaded, 
The mice took on quite a scare; 

And the roaches turned out and paraded, 
In the closet just under the stair. 

The bedbug-s played "Jack and the fiddle," 
And the taper moths sig-hed for a g-lare; 

And the crickets sang- "Hey-diddle-diddle, " 
In the closet just under the stair. 

The old shoes had feeling's of sorrow 
Their lang-uag-e could never declare, 

So they silently waited the morrow, 
In the closet just under the stair. 

153 



THE CI.OSET JUST UNDER THE STAIR 

And the spiders, thej winked at each other, 
With a sort of a mischievous air; 

Maud wished herself out, and her mother 
In the closet just under the stair. 

What! Did her wits all forsake her? 

Or was she in love to despair. 
That caused her to fly from her Maker, 

To the closet just under the stair? 

The Lord only knows how much money 
I would g-ive could I have been there, 

Alone in the gloom with my "honey," 
In the closet just under the stair. 

Many times would I since have eat melons, 
With her parents, that royal old pair. 

But I feared she would fly to Aunt Ellen's, 
Or the closet just under the stair. 

Forget it, O Lord! I can never, 
So long as life's burdens I bear; 

With regrets I'll remember forever, 
That closet just under the stair. 



154 



*SONNET 

Dear Lady, if I really crazy be, 

And truly am of unsound mind, 
It is a proposition full and clear to me, 

The cause would not be difficult to find. 
For when the fates shall bid you g-o and see 

The thing-s the future really keeps in store, 
The past to you shall bear its mystery, 

And thou shalt view ang^elic records o'er; 
Then shalt thou know the past's most full 
amount; 

Perhaps be vexed when thou shalt see 
In black and white — charged unto your account- 

The cause of my insanity. 

For loving- too well, and only thee. 
Is why it is, I thus so crazy be. 



*The lady to whom this sonnet is addressed, once playfully 
insinuated that we were "crazy," thus placing us upon 
the defensive. The above is our answer to the charge. 



155 



Enigmatic Section 



Index to Enigmatic Section — 

Preface 
Explanation 

Every Lover Hath a Loved One 
My Lady 
Mystery 
Enig-ma 

Spenserian Stanza 
A May-Day Offering- 
Double Handicap 

"Kind Hearts Are More than Coronets" 
Sonnet 

Nature's Shine in Gleam so Fine 
Sonnet 



158 



This section is respectfully dedicated to the per- 
sons whose names are interwoven in 
the lines of the several pieces 
composing it 



PREFACE TO THE ENIGMATIC SECTION 

This section has been wroug-ht with the view of showing- 
the youth of future g"enerations how love-making- may be 
reduced to a fine art, — to show the capabilities of the lan- 
g-uage, and to g-ratify an insatiate desire to produce some- 
thing- curious, — something- that does not occur in every 
volume of verse, — something- out of the ordinary in liter- 
ature; and we reserve to the reading public the right to 
judge how well we have succeeded in attaining the objects 
for which we have striven. 



KXPIyANATION 

To find the names confined within the several pieces of 
this section, I can give but one general rule, i. e.\ Begin 
with the first or last letter of the first or last line, or both 
as the case may be, and count to the right or left one letter 
for each succeeding line when beginning with the top or 
first line, or one letter to the right or left for each preceding 
line when beginning with the last line, and thus the names 
appear. In three of the pieces the name occurs twice, viz., 
the piece entitled "Double Handicap" and the sonnets. 



160 



EVERY LOVER HATH A LOVED ONE 

Every lover hath a loved one; 
I do have a loved one too; — 
If I had to name that loved one, 
What would I then tell to you? 
O, she has a name romantic 
As the lilies' sweet perfume, — 
That this side of the Atlantic, 
We shall never more presume 
Earth has g-entler, fairer maiden, 
Than my g-irl I dearly love; — 
Nor has the heavenly Aidenn, 
In the reg-ions up above. 

September 2d^ igoi. 



161 



MY LADY 

My lady is a portly, handsome lass, 

With hazel eyes and prett}^ auburn hair; 

Many girls am I compelled to pass, 

In an eag-er search for one that is more fair. 

And yet, most ladies fall a long- way short 

Of her, — the g-oodly one of whom I write, — 

In most things of a really good report, — 

In those alloys that make this bleak world bright. 

Were I gifted with the splendid gift of song, 

I would with pleasure of her merits sing, — 

Pour forth her praise in rhythmic meter strong, — 

W'ith her fame or worth, w^ould make the welkin 

ring. 
Oh! More would I do were it within my power. 
To celebrate those many, many things, 
Which speak her praise through each succeeding 

hour. 
And so shall speak as long as being clings. 
Oh! The fates forbid that I should thus command 
The glowing muse for a very little while; — 
Must lag along and by my weakness stand, — 
For aye forswear her welcome, precious smile .... 
Grant me, O God the power to deftly use 
For her sweet sake the glory of the muse. 

Winona Lake, Ind.^ June 2^th^ igo2. 



162 



MYSTKRY 

Mysterious are thy v/ondrous ways, O time, 

With thy endless sea of billowy chang-e; 

In never-resting-, shimmering- scenes sublime, 

Thy notions ever crop out new and strang-e. 

Ever, ever changing- at thy fickle will, 

As if it was thy stint of hourly sport 

To make thing's doubly queer and strang-er still, 

As thou mayst please to g-ive thine own report. 

What care they for never-ending- chang-e, 

Who are in their love's sweet g-race entwined, — 

What do I care for something- new and strang-e, 

When thoug-ht of her is utmost in my mind? 

Thus love is, and throug'h all time shall be 

A little thing- not subject unto chang-e, 

As infinite by far as is the Deity, 

As mysterious, as marked, as steadfast and as 

strang-e. 
Oh! Love, the most mysterious thing- I know, 
What would I g-ive to have thy mystery explained; — 
To have thy puppet play, with its ethereal g"low. 
Disclose thy secret, till all mystery contained 
Within thy silent cell forthwith shall be revealed; — 
To me and all this world forever be unsealed. 

Carmel, Ind.^ July 21st, igo2. 



163 



ENIGMA 

Of all the ladies we are privileg-ed to name, 

None merits more the blessing's from above, 

Or ruddy ting-e of iridescent fame, 

Or sacred sweets extant in hallowed love. 

Her charms are more than any g-irl's we know, 

Her face more fair than any we have known; 

Her form would grace the g-randest heavenly show, 

In which she mig-ht with profit sit alone .... 

Hidden within these lines' intricacies 

Lies the pretty name we celebrate. 

Which we with pride, herein disguise with ease, 

So deep, so well, your wits can not translate. 

April <f.th, igos. 



164 



SPENSERIAN STANZA 

With wanton thoug-hts I sing- of her 

Most recklessly in sport for fun; 

Her fame is more than I can here confer 

In poem, speech, essay or pun. 

Thus it seems I ought to say I'm done, 

Or with composure merely say I am 

Nonplused, my wits upon the run. 

And all I write is nothing- but a sham, 

And worst of all, not worth a single dam.* 

April 2jd, igoj. 



*A dam is an East Indian coin worth about one-fortieth 
of a rupee, and is said to be the smallest coin minted. 



165 



A MAY-DAY OFFERING 

Days g-one by, return to me, 

Make me just a lad ag-ain. 

O, fill my heart with things to be 

As is boy's lot to hope as men, 

The by and by will something bring, 

As these sweet flowers of May, 

Making many an uncouth thing- 

To shine in brighter, purer ray. 

The woman to whom I herein sing. 

Is sweeter than the lovely flowers of spring". 

May ist^ 1903. 



166 



DOUBLE HANDICAP 

Herein lies a name most high, 
Well known for her actions clever; 
Well, if this poem does not lie. 
Her envied name will live forever. 
Time never can her name encase. 
In gewgaws bought by cringing favor, 
Or the world's goods, in cash or "pride of place," 
To give our love for her true flavor. 
Her great love for man her name embalms for aye, 
And commands respect that naught could steal 
away. 

May 2oth, igoj. 



167 



'^KIND HEARTS ARE MORE THAN 
CORONETS " 

"Kind hearts are more than coronets," 
Said the immortal Tennyson; 
Wit is more than epaulets, 
With g-olden fringe thereon. 
The lady in whose name I pen these lines, 
Can more and better charms display. 
Than this poor verse holds in its weak confines. 
Or wanton words in metaphors assay; 
Her charmes are such as have been gfiven 
To wives of king-s upon this earthly sphere; 
Used by ang-els in the inner court of Heaven; 
By lovers all, and lovers ever^^where. 
Music, enraptured spirit of the Infinite, 
Manifest in every joyful sound 
Made by nature's lips, as nature seeth fit. 
Is her delig-ht, for she in that is brilliant and pro- 
found. 
She sing-s as angels sing in Paradise, 
As joyful as the bird among the trees, 
As sweetly as a skylark soaring to the skies. 
Or "rune of rivulets" or notes of busy bees. 
(Why waste precious time on stanzas such as these?) 
Her merits are so great, none dares deny reward, 
And speak more compliments than babblings of a 
bard. 

May 2jd, 1903. 

168 



SONNET 

In effort vain I raise my lyre, 

I deem it duty here to sing 

What I conceive in rare poetic fire, 

The endless, everlasting- thing-. 

Fame lays beside the altar of desire, 

There marking- it with tints from beauty's wing-, 

Making- acceptable to her who may acquire 

Thing's acknowledg-ed deathless by those who bring" 

Their mark to show their love for beauty's king. 

O, could I these reckless lines 

Free from the weakness of my mind. 

That I may leave in memory's confines. 

Advanced well — endeared to human kind — 

Immortalize for aye the name here twice confined. 

May 2sd^ 1903. 



169 



NATURE'S SHINE IN GLEAM SO FINE 

Nature's shine in gleam so fine, 

Tells of the great Creator; 

That I may learn, by every turn, 

Where I should bow and cater 

To things ne'er born of hopes forlorn. 

Or aught that's classed as human. 

Save to the fame, one whose name, 

Is known to many a woman: 

A face aglow, to let us know. 

Love hath a place within her. 

And that sweet smile, that would beguile 

The greatest saint or sinner. . . . 

We write these lines without designs 

Upon her grace so clever. 

So never mind these words unkind, — 

With this, our vain endeavor. 

May make her live forever and forever. 

May 2yth^ 1903. 



170 



SONNET 

One dear girl, — her manner haunts me still, 
And speaks to me, yet never in disdain, 
Thoug-h with her friends she may be only "Lil," 
She unto me will ever be much more; — And I 'til 
The happy time she meets with me again, 
At some resort by shady lake or sun'y main, 
Ere thievish time shall take his fief per will, 
And then if not the naughty thief puts ill 
Into my head, I shall her memory enchain 
In rippling rhyme, like tinkling of a bell. 
With something like lame music in it. 
Placing music, prose, and poetry on common 

parallel, 
To win her love, — Not let others win it, — 
When that is done, will swear that all is well. 

June 2jd^ 1903^ 



171 



Miscellaneous Section 



Ind^x to M1SCE1.LANEOUS Section — 

As Down through Life's Dreary Desert I Wind 
The Present 
My Trinity 

The Bachelor's Lament 
The Benedict's Paean 
On the Fall of Man 
An Kpisode 
"Hell" and "Hades" 
Little Willie 

The "Governor's" Advice to His Son 
Conceit in Youth 
An Application for a Job 
Distance 
My Refug-e 
A Retort 

The Unchallenged Story 
The Appointed Time to Die 
Early Memories 
Sonnet to White River 
Sonnet to Spring- 
Parody on the First Eight Lines of "The 
Dying Child," by Hans Christian Andersen 
Strolling at Midnight 
Finis 

174 



AS DOWN THROUGH LIFE'S DREARY 
DESERT I WIND 

As down throug-h life's dreary desert I wind, 

Toward the phantom success in the distance afar, 

It is with chagrin and displeasure I find 
How uncertain man's votaries are. 

Life, it is not a positive thing. 

An instant may sever its cord; 
Fortune may fly on a hurricane wing-. 

And love disappear with a word. 

The noblest of prospects may suffer from blight, 

Glory's bright gewgaws may fade. 
Reason may vacate its throne in a night, 

And the hand of its cunning be flayed. 

Pleasure may pass as the silvery shower. 
Happiness fade like the rainbow away. 

Friendship but last for the space of an hour, 
And hope take its flight with the day. 

August 8th, i88g. 

Note — This piece orig-inally consisted of five stanzas, which 
I wrote down at the time of their composition, but the 
manuscript became misplaced and I reconstructed it 
from memory. One stanza I was never able to repro- 
duce. 

175 



THE PRESENT 

With a frown or a smile, yet busy the while. 
The present steals time from the future; 

In a manner to last, it is knit to the past, 
With a firm and inseparable suture. 

It ever supplies a splendid disg'uise, 
With which time concealeth his vig-or; 

Yet as he gfoes, never fails to disclose 
The ardent intrig-ues of his rigor. 

As the river that brings from the high mountain 
springs 
Each drop by them put in motion, 
From the mountains of time flows each moment 
sublime, 
To fall in eternity's ocean 

Each moment that shifts is loaded with gifts, 
For each one to grasp now or never; — 

With the glance of an eye, each gift may pass by, 
And be lost to our service forever. 

While the chance of the hour yet stands in our 
power, 
We ever seem prone to misuse it; 
When 'tis past we will own that its worth was un- 
known, 
Till we had the misfortune to lose it. 
176 



THE PRESENT 

In just the same way the chance of to-day 
Is let slip in the hope of to-morrow; — 

Yet how oft 'tis our fate to find out too late, 
That our hopes have been bartered to sorrow. 

We often behold both the young- and the old 

Depriving- this life of its leaven; 
Filling- life's scope with the ether-like hope 

That all wrong-s will be rig-hted in Heaven. 

These hours we abuse, we should all try to use, 
In an effort to make life more pleasant; 

For Infinit}^ holds nowhere in its wolds 
A time to compare with the present. 



177 



MY TRINITY 

Three things I covet with all my soul, 
More than titles, or honors, or wealth; 

One is an absolute self-control. 
Another is perfect health. 

On ample reflection, ag-ain I find, 

I one thing- more would be pleased to possess; 
That is an ample, expansive, erudite mind, 

The friction of time can render no less. 

With health, and mind, and a self-control, 

I believe I could write my name 
At the very top of the hig-hest scroll 

That adorns the shaft of fame. 

August, i8g2. 



178 



THE BACHELOR'S LAMENT 

Oh! How I long- for the days g^one by, 

Ere the ang-el was changed to the human, 

When my nature was such that I could not deny 
One sing-le virtue to woman. 

When my verdancy would not permit me to see, 

She b] only a g-ay deceiver, — 
V/hen ''any old thing-" she would tell to me. 

Though a lie I yet would believe her 

But, alas for me, those days are o'er, 

And mine it is to discover 
That youth has passed to the happy yore, 

And ag-e is unfit for a lover. 

May, I poo. 



179 



THE BENEDICT'S P^AN 

Since the sweet hour when erstwhile I tasted 
The pleasures extant in connubial bliss, 

I have sig-hed for the hours I so ruthlessly wasted, 
In the aimless courting- of that g-irl and this. 

And now since the days of my courting- are ended, 
My chivalry seems almost like a crime, 

And I long- for the "cash" I so freely expended 
In showing- the ladies an eleg-ant time. 

As these children sport in their jolly g-yrations, 
And festively romp in their innocent g-lee. 

The sig-ht is worth more than a hundred flirtations. 
Or the sweets of a dozen whole courtships to me. 

This sweet, happy home, with my dear wife presid- 
ing-, 
I ever must own with an unstinted pride, 
Is a realm enchanted, — more pleasures providing-, 
Than all the wide scope of the whole world be- 
side. 

August ^oth, igo6. 



180 



ON THE FALL OP MAN 

Why mourn we our forefather's fall? — 
Althoug-h he did paradise leave, 

We can with some pleasure recall, 
He still was attended by Kve. 

The judgment, indeed, we must say, 
Would have much more severity shown, 

Had it taken the lady away. 
And left Adam in Kden alone. 



181 



AN KPISODK 

**My lady" turned me down, 
For one whose hair turns up; — 

To me it was a thorny crown, 
A truly bitter cup. 

"Bitter cup" or "thorny crown," 
"Hard luck," or what you will, 

Althoug-h "my lady" "turned me down," 
"Lord knows," I love her still. 

July gth, igoj. 



182 



''HKLL" AND "HADES" 

The little preachers will do well 
To rob our lexicon of Hell; 
But will our lang-uag-e have more grace, 
When they put Hades in its place? — 
No! They'll but commit a crime 
Ag-ainst the little folks that rhyme. 
The simple truth to plainly tell, 
There is a euphony in Hell, 
Inventions of the poets' brain 
Can ne'er cause Hades to attain. 



Note — The above is an impromptu sug-gested by reading- an 
article in a newspaper that a certain ag-gregation of 
ministers had voted to banish "Hell" from the lan- 
g-uage, and substitute "Hades" for it. 



183 



UTTLE WILLIE 

Little Willie was not silly, 

But he would not mind his ma;- 

Like a fool he tickled "muley" 
On the hind heel with a straw. 



Quicker than you could count seven, 
"Muley" raised his heel on hig-h, 

And little Willie went to heaven 
In the twinkling- of an eye. 

Gently smooth his golden tresses, 
Twine a g-arland for his brow; — 

For majority of g-uesses 

Is, "Willie" is an ang-el now. 



184 



THE GOVERNOR'S ADVICE TO HIS SON 

*'Mj son in the world or the school, 

In business, at church, or the ball, 
Make this your infallible rule, 

Thoug-h the stars in heaven may fall: 
Let your mode be painfully cool, 

Your wit, it be 'nothing small;' 
Have cheek like a 'government mule,' 

And be loaded with 'infinite gall'." 



Note — Young- men too frequently refer to their sires as the 
"Old Man" or the "Governor." The stern parent is 
the "Governor" meant in the title of this piece. 



185 



CONCEIT IN YOUTH 

Conceit is an ingredient of youth 

That puts a "beam" in most of young- men's eyes; 
Obscures their minds to weig-ht of actual truth, 

And seek for g-oals portrayed to them in lies. 

It causes them, with buoyant hearts elate. 
To view the future's face without a fear; 

Makes them to take "uneven cues with fate," 
Or shake the dice "with destiny for beer." 

It steels their nerves until they would not ask 
A sing-le odd in anything- proposed by fate; 

But cheerfully would tackle any task 

That may be found 'twixt this and heaven's g-ate. 

Could young- folks know the future's fulsome truth, 
'Twould steal their smiles and fill their hearts 
with care; 

Would snatch the vim from many an ardent youth, 
And brand his ways with symptoms of despair. . . 

Perhaps 'tis well for youth to have conceit, — 
Be optimistic as to the future's store; — 

Were it not so, the start would be defeat, 

And passing- years would surely yield no more. 

August J I st, I go I. 



186 



AN APPLICATION FOR A JOB 

I do behold with some surprise, 

In the "Record Want Ad" columns, 

That thou didst choose to advertise 
Where paragraphs speak volumes. 

Your paragraph is well-designed, 

And faithfully rehearses, 
That you would be quite pleased to find 

Adepts at writing- verses. 

As a "Rhymist" I must say 

I am no ordinary; 
If you can fix about the pay 

I am your "huckleberry.'' 

Why, I can rhyme in any field. 
From the solemn to the funny. 

Provided it will only yield 
Its complement in money. 

To give a briefness to the page, 

A shortness to the story, 
I must remark, I'm past the age 

When I would write for glory 



If you think that I will do. 
To furnish rhymes so "canny, 

Write H. A. Maker, K.-S.-Q.- 
At Carmel, "Indiany." 

187 



DISTANCE 

^'Distance lends enchantment to the view;" 
Adds beauty to the raptured scene, 

Gives to the lovely sky its hue, 
Makes far-off fields look g-reen. 

It also g-ives a vastness unto space, 
And force unto the driving winds; 

Puts smiles upon a scowling- face, — 

The earthquake's mighty force rescinds. 

Distance covers up the criminal's flight. 
So that he thus evades the powers that be; 

It also forms a boundary for the sight, 
Gives breadth unto the roaring sea. 

Likewise gives depth unto the mighty deep, 
And length unto the placid streams, 

Hight unto the rocky steep. 

And fortunes unto youthful dreams. 

In distance do we locate God's abode. 
And heaven that surrounds his throne, 

Hell where wicked sinners' souls are stowed. 
And the rest of all the great unknown. 

188 



DISTANCK 

Distance is within itself so vast 

That naug-ht has yet its limit crossed, 

In it Creation's bounds are far surpassed, 
And Infinity itself is lost. 

Distance within its scope contains 
All that was, that is, and is to be. 

The Universe with all its wide domains, 
The wizard Time, and vast Eternity. 

1883. 



189 



MY RKFUGE 

There is naug-ht that inhabits this vain world of 
woe, 
But has a place where to fly when 'tis hotly pur- 
sued; 
A place that's secure from the hate of a foe, 
A spot where its enemies can not intrude; 

Where it can say to its cares, "You may g-o," — 
Where its fears of gross evils are quickly subdued, 

Where its feeling-s of safety will soon strong-er grow, 
And its faith in the future will soon be renewed. 

The snake, he will crawl to his den in the rocks, 
And the wolf she will fly to her home in the cave; 

The one w^hom earth's fortunes so tauntingly mocks. 
Finds refuge within the cool shades of the grave. 

The man that is married, when misfortunes have 
come, 
Feels worried and troubled and weary of life, — 
He a refuge soon finds in the precincts of home, 
And his heart is soon healed by the words of his 
wife. 

He who has wrestled with great "ups" and "downs" 
(By the way his rude passions he can not control), 

For awhile all his sorrow he cleverly drowns 

In the deep blushing g-oblet or broad brimming 
bowl. 

190 



MY RKFUGE 

The one that is strong- in his clerical faith, 

Thoug-h the pang's of his body are seventy-seven, 

Relies on the words that so prettily saith 

"Whatever befalls, there is refug-e in heaven." 

Let the snake crawl away to his dark, slimy den. 

The wolf fly away to her dark, filthy cave; 
Let the misanthrope shun all the places of men, 

And the luckless lie deep in the g-rave; 

Let tipplers drown sorrow in the depths of the bowl, 
Let wrong-s g-row to rig-ht in the working's of time; 

Let the faithful be saved in the hope of his soul; — 
My refug^e is found in the realms of rhyme. 

Jmiuary, iS88. 



191 



A RETORT 

Old as I am, I yet can sing- 
As sweet and plaintive as a dove;— 

Can touch at pleasure any string- 
Upon the mag-ic lyre of love. 

Can call from out the spaces void 
Sweet forms and faces fair, 

The same as artists have employed 
For ang-els everywhere. 

I can with metaphors profuse, 
Besmirch or gild another's fame. 

Can, with just a pinch of muse, 
To airy nothing- g*ive a name. 

Forg-e out some metred classic clause, 
That bears upon thing-s yet to be;- 

Give to the thing- that is, or was, 
A tinge of immortality 

Indeed is ag-e a sad disg-race, 
That admits of no defense. 

An unimportant, empty place, 
Possessed of no emoluments. 



192 



A RETORT 

O, no, when life has been well spent, 
And age brings trophies of success, 

Is it not taken by consent, 

It is no bad thing to possess? .... 

Do I not wear these gray hairs well?- 
And they become my brow, 

When I the language can compel 
To do my will as now. 



193 



THE UNCHALLENGED STORY 

The unchalleog-ed story is floating- about, 

"This is a deg-enerate ag-e;" 
The truth of that story nobody can doubt, 

When we note the ideals that rag-e. 

If judgment is formed from what newspapers say, 

Or from what the ballad girl sings, 
We conclude all ideals in existence to-day 

Tend toward more voluptuous thing-s. 

If we g-lance at a schedule of newly made books, — 
Note those that are meeting- best sale, — 

We locate immediately one of the hooks. 
On v/hich hangs the gist of the tale. 

Those expressing- their thoughts in dialect rhymes 
Are the poets whose praises are sung, 

While their stanzas in truth are nothing but crimes 
Disgracing our elegant tongue. 

Novels that treat of the soft-sided heart 

Are read to gratify self. 
While historj^ poetry, science and art. 

Unread are let lie on the shelf. 

The principal spirit extant in this day, 

The one that possesses most dash. 
Is shown in the energy most men display 

In this spirited scramble for cash. 

194 



THE UNCHALLENGED STOKV 

Money to-day commands a respect 

Par more than in days that have been, 

And seems to possess a powerful effect, 
To blur the repugnance of sin. 

If they only get money, — it matters not how, — 

The world at attention will stand; 
Society's dukes in deference bow. 

And beauty is at their command. 

So long- as we judge things by such a scale, 

And money such merits command, 
Virtue and right will be ever on sale, 

And corruption will stalk through the land. 

And no one on earth would dare to deny 

The story that blackens the page. 
That most our ideals are far from too high. 

And this "a degenerate age." 

/une 1 2th, ipo2. 



195 



THE APPOINTED TIME TO DIE 

Past these varied scenes of busy strife, 

Awaits for all a fateful day, 
When this frail substance we call life 

Shall quit its tenement of clay. 

There is a time for every one to die, 

To cease this dull routine of toil; 
To lay life's onerous burdens by 

And "shuffle off this mortal coil." 

The question is with most of thoug-htful men, 
What are the thing-s by which we must infer, 

The kind of signs that are to tell us when 
That real sad happening- should occur? 

Should it be in childhood's happj^ hours? 

In being-'s roseate period, when 
Life's prospects are as lovely as the flowers? 

Oh! No— not then— not then! 

Should it be in manhood's useful prime, 
When consort, children, and society depend 

On him for necessaries that make time 
Tolerable for life unto the end? 



196 



THE APPOINTED TIME TO DIE 

Or should it be when one is full of years, 

When all the charms of life have taken wing"? 

When existence one g"reat, somber blank appears, 
"Sans teeth, sans eyes, sans taste, sans every- 
thing"? 

When one has rounded out his three-score years and 
ten, 

And added a decade of borrowed time. 
It seems to me that his departure then 

Would better be than in his youth or prime. 

The proper time is— were we to make a g-uess — 
When his biog-rapher can cite a full career, — 

Can tell a story of g-reat usefulness 

To his fellow man throug^h many a busy year. 

August ist, IQ02. 



197 



EARLY MEMORIES 

There'vS a halo that hangs 'round the place of our 
birth, 

That imparts an ethereal glow, 
That makes it the most hallowed spot on the earth, 

The sweetest our memories know. 

When by reflection we fully retrace 

Our careers through the years that are gone, 

There is nothing extant more dear than the place 
That hailed us at memory's dawn. 

What exquisite charm tenaciously clings 

To our minds wherever we be, 
That renders as holy and sacred the things 

That happened around mother's knee. 

As our minds run back to when we were boys, 

What a sense of delight it imparts. 
How the dogs, and the ponies, the cats and the toys, 

Become idols most dear to the heart. 

How deftly the hands of reflection entwine. 

In spite of this world and its ways. 
The things that it takes to convert to a shrine 

Each several place of our plays. 

198 



EARLY MEMORIKS 

Memory, the artist, intrusively paints 

On our minds as women and men. 
Pictures sublime that convert into saints 

The persons that played with us then. 

It matters not where our lots may be cast, 
How our fortunes may rise or may fall, 

The memories of childhood will cling- to the last, 
And be ever the dearest of all. 

January ist^ 1906. 



199 



STROLLING AT MIDNIGHT 

It is sweet to stroll at the midnig-ht hour, 
When the Lyre past the zenith is straying-; 

When the planets shine forth in their lustiest power, 
And the meteors swiftly are playing-. 

When terrestrial forces of nature are dead, 
Save the fireflies' flash in the thicket; 

No sounds extant save your echoing- tread. 
And the dull "seed-seed" of the cricket. 

The stillness such a resonance bring-s, 
And the hour such solemnity carries. 

You can hear the swish of ang-els' wing-s. 
And the murmuring- whisper of fairies, 

As they softly speak of the long- ag-o, 

Of the past and its many pleasures; 
Of the dear old friends that we used to know, 

And of things the memory treasures. 



200 



STROIrLING AT MIDNIGHT 

It seems as if, without much ado, 

The mind becomes a rover, 
The past turns out in g-rand review, 

And we live the old days over. 

Who would not for the moment be. 

Freed from the world's cajoling-, 
Forswear all cares and g-o like me 

At the midnig-ht hour a-strolling-. 

February jth^ igod. 



201 



SONNET TO WHITE RIVER 

I love to sit beside thy silent stream, 

Whose ceaseless current ever onward flows; 
Whose surface sparkles like the pag-eants of a 
dream, 

In every little bustling- breeze that blows; 

Sitting- here in idle, calm repose. 
And g-azing on thy bosom it would seem 

That I forg-et the scope of human woes. 
And lose myself in thy resplendent gleam; 
Lost though I be, my fancies ever teem 

With beauty that expands and grows. 
And radiates with each reflected beam. 

Till going day his lengthening shadow throws, 

And I arise, and as the raptured vision goes, 
I turn and thank thee for this respite, silent stream. 

November 26 th^ ^9^5 - 



202 



SONNET TO SPRING 

All hail, the choicest season of the year, 

The brig-ht, blithe, balmy, beauteous spring-, 

Whose g-lowing- warmth makes winter disappear, 
And instills new life in every living- thing-, 
Makes plants and trees their vernal verdure fling-, 

O'er stems and branches lately "brown and sear," 
And birds to mount on g-ay and lofty wing-, 

And carol forth to charm each listening- ear; 

And streaks with flowers the landscape far and 
near. 
While droning- bees to every blossom cling-; — 

In pleasing- tones most passing- sweet to hear, 
And loud enoug-h to "make the welkin ring-," 
All nature as one universal choir doth sing-, 

"All hail the choicest season of the year." 

February 2jth, igo6. 



!03 



*PARODY 

OF THE TRANSLATION OF THE FIRST EIGHT LINES 

OF "the dying child," by HANS 

CHRISTIAN ANDERSEN 

Darling-, I would fain be sleeping; 

Let me repose upon thy bosom seek; 
But promise me thou wilt continue heaping* 

Countless kisses on my ruddy cheek. 
Within my breast my heart it raveth madly, — 

Madly as the howling- storm above; 
With deep emotion I turn to the g-ladly, — 

Tell me darling, is this love? 

February^ i8y8. 



*This is my earliest surviving production. It is a piece I 
carried in my memory for nearly thirty years. 



204 



FINIS 

Finished well or incomplete, 
I deem it proper time to quit, 

And Byron's pithy words repeat, 
That "what is writ, is writ." 

Whatever be this volume's store, 
I with frankness must confess, 

My vanity can't make it more, 
Nor my evil-wishers make it less. 

I trust this little book of rhyme 
May be my passport unto fame, 

And forever at the bar of time 
Plead with oblivion for my name. 



205 



NOV 12 1806 



